LMC may go in for tax increase
LUCKNOW:The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) house scheduled to meet on Saturday will discuss several proposals to increase taxes on cinema halls, multiplexes, wine shops and model shops and slap new taxes on airport, guest houses and nursing homes .
However, this would not be easy as BJP corporators are angry with their own state government for not giving them enough funds for development. So they will not support the new taxes planned by LMC executive committee on June 27. The corporators feel people in their wards are turning against them due to shortage of funds in the corporation. Some of them openly said that they would give vent to this anger in the house meeting called by the mayor on Saturday.
During their meeting with mayor Sanyukta Bhatia on Wednesday, the corporators had expressed anger over broken roads, choked drains, failed storm water management, missing manhole caps, lack of development work and danger of epidemic spread.
The mayor in turn agreed to give time to every corporator to explain his/her point before the house meeting on Saturday.
A BJP corporator said on condition of anonymity , “We are made to feel like beggars by this government. We have not done any development work this year in our wards. We are afraid of facing people now.”
“On Saturday, we will say what we feel for our own government,” said another corporator.
Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia said that everything was under control and corproators would be given funds soon for development work as she had taken up the issue with the authorities concerned . Proposals like increase in tax on cinema halls would be discussed in the LMC house.
She admitted that during the meeting some of the BJP corporators felt the state government was not giving funds for development work in their wards.
She said, “The LMC house will also discuss user charges on airport for waste collection . It will discuss slapping Rs 100 per passenger tax on airport to increase its income.”
The house will discuss increasing tax on wine shops , guest houses, nursing homes, pathologies, XRay centres and clinics, she said.
The house will also discuss fee for use of shooting range and demolition of unsafe portions of LMC markets and properties after Charbagh hotel fire incident.
NEW NAMES OF CROSSINGS
The crossing at Labour Colony Gurudwara would be known as Shri Guru Govind Singh crossing
while the Meena Bakery crossing would be known as Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya crossing.
The proposal for naming the road from Awadh crossing to airport after former chief minister HN Bahuguna will be discussed. The LMC house would discuss a proposal for installing the statue of former MLA Satish Bhatia (husband of mayor Sanyukta Bhatia) at Singar Nagar crossing.
The statue would be installed after taking legal opinion.
Besides, Mahanagar Kalyan Mandap would be named after former mayor Dr SC Rai.
The road from Hari Nagar Gurudwara to RK marriage lawn would be named after former corporator Ram Kumar Gupta.
The road from Balaganj crossing to Mohaan Road would be known as Nishadraj Marg.