Inefficiency of Thrissur Corporation pushes traders into trouble: Opposition
People are unable to pay tax due to error in data; traders may not be able to renew their licences, alleges Opposition
Congress councillors in the Thrissur Corporation staged a dharna in front of the Corporation office on Wednesday in protest against the alleged failure of the civic body in streamlining the tax payment process.
“Thousands of traders in Thrissur city are in trouble. They may not be able to renew their licence as they couldn’t pay the building taxes due to errors in the data entered into the software by the Corporation,” said Leader of the Opposition Rajan Pallan.
The data entered by the Corporation on the software was full of errors. As a result people were not able to pay building tax. More than 50% of the residents and traders in the Corporation limit could not pay the tax even after the last date of March 31. They were now forced to pay a fine for the Corporation’s mistake. Even if they were ready to pay the fine, the system was not accepting the tax, Mr. Pallan said.
“The last day for renewing the licence of the traders is June 30. For that they need to pay the building tax. Hundreds of traders are waiting in line everyday to pay the tax. It is a serious issue.”
The Corporation declared tax adalats to address the complaints of people regarding the tax payment issue. But the Mayor and the team, including the Secretary, went on a Russian tour, cancelling the adalats. This was when the people were running from pillar to post to pay the tax and to review their licences.
“It shows the obduracy of the Corporation leadership. As the traders failed to renew the licence they can’t pay the GST too,” Mr. Pallan said.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition E.V. Sunil Raj presided over the protest meeting.
- Telegram
SEE ALL
PRINT