Mangalore: The DK district Congress staged a protest in front of DC office on May 16, Monday opposing the hike in SAS tax by the Mangalore City Corporation.
Addressing the protestors, Ivan D Souza KICC general secretary condemned a move on part of the ruling BJP to increase property tax collected through self-assessment scheme (SAS) by 15% this fiscal.
He also said that the decision of the MCC to hike property tax was taken without taking the suggestion of the opposition party and the general public. The MCC Commissioner had all rights to stop the hike in tax, but he did not use his power.
He also said that the decision of transferring the present DC Subodh Yadav is not right. The district in charge minister Krishna J Palemar is responsible for the transfer of the sincere officers like V Ponnuraj and Subodh Yadav. Speaking about the coming DC Chennappa Gowda, he said that he is not new to Dakshina Kannada district and very well know his efficiency. This kind of officer is not required for the Dakshina Kannada, he said.
Bantwal MLA Ramanath Rai, said that this is the first biggest work done by the BJP led government of increasing the tax, that too giving problems to crores of people.
The MCC is bringing the Hitler’s rule. If the state government has little shame then they must take back the step of SAS, he added.
The MCC opposition leader Lancelot Pinto said the ruling party should have discussed the issue of hike in SAS in the Council meeting and then should have taken a decision.
Vijay Kumar Shetty former MLA and Congress leader, Suresh Ballal, Shashidhar Hegde, Padmanabha N. Ibrahim kodijal, Sadashiv Ullal and others were present.