Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam June 8 Vacant land tax, for which a notification has been issued by the Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and notices sent to the owners of such plots, has triggered a controversy here, as 32 villages recently merged in the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) will be badly affected.

Several speakers condemned the imposition of the tax by GVMC and questioned the rationale behind it at a workshop conducted by the Vizag Journalists' Forum here on Friday.

A resolution was passed urging GVMC to keep the collection of tax in abeyance till June 21 at least, as GVMC Council would meet on that day and discuss the tax.

The Mayor, Mr P. Janardhana Rao, said on Thursday that efforts would be made to get tax reduced from 0.5 per cent to 0.2, or 0.3, per cent and to get exemption for the poorer sections and middle class owners, having less than 200 sq. yards.

Mr Jahir Ahmed, the Telugu Desam leader, said that when the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation was formed, the people of the 32 villages in the vicinity of the city were given a clear assurance that there would be no additional tax burden on them on account of the move.

"But now that promise is being flagrantly violated. It is a major problem for them as well as the middle classes in the city. According to one estimate, there are 6,000 such plots within the city," he said and urged the corporation to stop collection of the tax.

Mr M. Yugandhar Reddy, secretary of VJF, Mr S.S. Sivasankar, its president, and several others criticised the move of the GVMC.

Mr. B.V. Rama Rao, president of the Greater Visakha Plot Owners' Association, and president of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Industries (FAPI), said the tax had been introduced during 2002 by the Telugu Desam Government in Hyderabad, with a provision to extend it to Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. He said the tax should be collected on the document value, but not on the market value of the site, as notified by the GVMC.

"In the past, when the non-agricultural land tax (NALA) was imposed on the industries, we protested and could get it revoked. We will represent to the State Government and get the VLT either reduced or annulled," he said, and added that a delegation of the vacant plot owners would meet the Chief Minister later this month and represent to him.

Mr. Padmanabha Raju, of the CPI(M), questioned the propriety of the Municipal Commissioner issuing the notification on the tax, without the matter being discussed in the council. He said the council, not the State Government, should be given the powers to decide on the issue.

Mr Ch. Raghavendra Rao, of the CPI, said the corporation had the right to augment its revenues by imposing taxes and "the imposition of the VLT cannot be questioned, but the manner in which it has been imposed is highly objectionable. The middle classes and the poorer sections should be spared."