Members of Visakhapatnam Apartment Resident Welfare Associations (VARWA) & Greater Visakha Residential Colony Association's Federation (Nivas) have jointly organised a roundtable meet on the property tax hike by the State government, here on Thursday.
Representatives from VARWA, Nivas, Andhra Pradesh Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (APFERWAS), Vizagapatnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), from Madhurawada, Gopalapatnam, Auto Nagar and 23 various localities from the city attended the meet.
All the members unanimously opposed the new tax changes and opined that this would lead to a severe burden on citizens. At the meeting, the associations also decided to continue their agitations like padayatras, signature campaign and social media campaign until the government withdraws its proposal, and also decided to challenge the order in court.
During the meeting, the members adopted a resolution opposing the decision. They opined that it was inhumane on the corporation’s part to hike taxes at a time when people were already under severe financial burden caused by the COVID pandemic.
“We pay property tax only for the creation of facilities like garbage collection, sewage treatment, drinking water supply, and road maintenance. It is unfair to charge extra,” they stated.
The members also demanded that the GVMC understand the plight of the poor, middle-class and small business community, and roll back the tax hike.
VARWA vice-president T. Kameswara Rao, Nivas general secretary P. Narayana Murty, VARWA general secretary B.B. Ganesh, APFERWAS president Uday Shirname, and VCCI secretary Ravi Godey were present.
