Delhi villages up in arms against imposition of house tax

New Delhi, Nov 8 : Determined to take their fight against levying of house tax to its logical end, representatives of an estimated 40 villages in Delhi today joined hands and demanded exemption of all 364 villages in the national capital from the tax.

A mammoth gathering of the villages held under the banner of Jia Sarai Welfare Association here, decided to oppose the imposition of house tax tooth and nail.

''We are determined to take this fight against the imposition of the tax to its logical end and we will not take rest unless and until our demands are conceded,'' said Association President L C Gaur.

Mr Gaur said it was assured to the residents of the villages two years ago that their house tax would be waived and they would no longer be needed to pay the tax, but recently house tax bills running into lakhs of rupees were sent to the houses of the villagers, leaving them feeling cheated.

''We will submit memoranda in this regard to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra and will also make our displeasure in this regard known to them,'' Mr Gaur informed.

Mr Jitender Gaur, a social activist and Joint Secretary of the Jia Sarai Welfare Association, said, ''We will not let politics come into our fight against house tax and we will take to the streets if our demands of waiving of house tax is not acceded to. We will not let political parties make a political capital out of it. Political parties come second and the welfare of our villages comes first for us.'' ''If the government can exempt big corporate houses from different categories of taxes, then why villages in the national capital were being subjected to house tax and commercial tax.

Together we stand united in our fight against house tax and we are not going to pay the tax at any cost,'' he asserted.

Among the villages whose representatives participated in the gathering were- Munirka, Vasant Gaon, Bawana, Ber Sarai, Lado Sarai, Katwaria Sarai, Neb Sarai, Chirag Dilli, Khirki and others.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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