Oppn members storm out of Thanjavur corpn council

Thanjavur: The urgent meeting of the Thanjavur City Corporation Council meeting was chaired by the Mayor Shan Ramanathan. He told the council that the revision of the state government’s recently recommended property tax increase should be discussed.

“The civic body’s expenditure has increased a lot. It’s time for the civic administration to look at fund sourcing through hike in property tax,” he said. “We’re facing fund crunch, but we need money to meet the need for basic amenities of residents. The eligibility was fixed by the 15th Central Finance Commission to avail funds, which is why the council decided to revise the tax from April 1. This is a policy decision of the State government. Tax has been revised after 14 years.” When the subject was tabled, AIADMK and BJP members raised slogans against the decision. Subsequently, the opposition party members, led by Manikandan (AIADMK) who wore black badges, staged a walkout. They claimed that the state government has been unnecessarily making burdens on the residents by increasing the tax upto 250 per cent.

After coming out of the council, they staged a protest in front of the council hall and demanded to withdraw the decision of property tax hike.

Meanwhile, after the walk-out by the opposition party members, the council passed the resolution to increase property tax.