DMC set to charge house tax from slum-dwellers

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 11

A proposal to charge house tax from residents of slums was passed at a meeting of the executive committee of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) here yesterday.

The decision to impose house tax on slums was long overdue, as the DMC had been dithering on the decision that has several political ramifications. Now, with the government planning to legalise several slums, the DMC could not keep them out of the ambit of taxation.

Earlier, a committee on slums, headed by Congress MLA Raj Kumar, had recommended grant of ownership rights to residents of 123 slums where the government money had been spent for creating infrastructure and the authorities concerned were collecting house tax.

A few residents of slums have been paying house tax since 1994 but the number of slums has also increased in 2016. The DMC is likely to undertake a survey for this purpose and then include the remaining slums and also lay down the criterion for imposition of tax. Significantly, a discussion on how to increase the DMC income was held during the meeting. A greater part of the DMC budget is spent towards paying salaries to the employees.

The DMC is aiming to earn at least Rs10 crore from house tax. Its earnings through hoardings has also increased considerably. However, it was thwarted in its efforts to revise upward commercial tax as local businessmen were not prepared to pay enhanced taxes. A decision is still pending on imposition of commercial tax. All these efforts will give enough economic power to the DMC to take up development works.