NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party slammed the BJP on Friday for putting thousands of businesses under threat by arbitrarily hiking taxes in the state. The BJP-ruled MCD is planning to destroy every single businessman of Delhi by arbitrarily hiking trade & storage licence fees by several thousands.
AAP MLA and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak lashed out at the BJP saying that In the 2017 BJP manifesto, they said they won’t impose any new tax, but after the formation of their government, the BJP ruled MCD is continuously increasing taxes. Asserting that traders are still suffering the consequences of COVID-19 yet the BJP is doing injustice with them, Pathak said, “Trade and storage licence fee was Rs 500, BJP has increased it to about Rs 1 lakh.
Earlier there was a trade licence fee of Rs 500 for a shop of upto 10 square metres, now it has been increased to Rs 4000. Licence fee for shops upto 10-20 square metres hiked from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000. Licence fee for 21-400 square metre shops of Rs 500 increased to Rs 21 thousand. For shops with an area of more than 400 square metres, a licence fee of Rs 72 thousand will now have to be paid. AAP demands BJP ruled MCD to roll back the said hikes and protect the traders from being harmed.”
Pathak said, “When MCD elections were conducted in 2017, the then BJP State President Manoj Tiwari promised that no new tax will be levied if the BJP will form the government. The same was included in their manifesto. But it seems that BJP has launched an assault against the people of Delhi.
They have made up their minds to make their lives miserable. BJP knows that their days at helm of affairs in MCD are over. Their condition is so pitiable that they’re running away from the elections. They are well aware that they won’t come back to power in Delhi in the next 50 years. Hence, they have started the politics of revenge.”
“The condition of cleanliness and drainage is getting worse and every Delhiite is aware of it. They have increased the property tax. They stooped even lower by perpetrating even more misery. They are now behind the Small and medium trades, small shops and storage centres.
They have launched an all-out attack against every Delhiite. They have increased trade and storage licence fees by a thousand times. Earlier, if someone had a shop of area 10 sq mtr, they were required to pay Rs five hundred to get the trade licence. Now the amount has increased to Rs four thousand,” Shri Durgesh Pathak added.
He said, “If the area was between 10-20 sq mtr, even then the owner has to pay Rs five hundred but the amount now stands at Rs Ten thousand. If the area was between 21-400 sq mtr, the rate to get the licence were same i.e. Rs five thousand.
This means that rates for obtaining a licence were uniform irrespective of the size of the shop. Now, for the same area, the rate has gone up to Rs twenty-one thousand. And if the area is above 400 sq mtr, the owner has to shell out Rs seventy-two thousand from their pockets.”
“MCD used to charge a meagre amount of Rs five hundred but now the owners have to pay up to Rs one lakh to get licence. COVID-19 pandemic caused a loss of 70-80% of trade to every businessman, not just in Delhi or India but in the entire world. The reality is that they are not even close to reaching the level of trade in February 2020, one month before a nationwide lockdown was imposed. Even in such stressful times, the BJP has decided to completely destroy trade and traders in Delhi.
They will become unemployed and will be forced to sell their houses. Earlier the MCD used to charge Rs One-hundred and sixty for the licence. Last year, they increased the amount to Rs five hundred and we vehemently opposed the move. They delayed for a while in implementing the decision but now they have crossed all the limits”, Shri Durgesh Pathak asserted.
He concluded, “There are 120 categories of shops which are included in the list. This move is blatantly wrong and dangerous. BJP has betrayed the people of Delhi. It is my sincere request to revoke your decision and save the traders from this catastrophe.
People of Delhi are already fed up with you. MCD is charging them for picking the garbage but it is not actually picking the garbage. They are imposed charges of approving the map of a building and later, they levy linter tax.
There are mountains of garbage. Now, this move of hiking the trade and storage licence can prove to be the final nail in the coffin. It should be avoided at all costs. We know the real motive behind this move is to gobble up funds collected by the MCD after the fee hike which will fill the pockets of your councillors. There has to be a limit on greed and corruption.”