Bandipora, Feb 13: Municipal Committee Bandipora president Basharat Hussain Najar on Monday expressed anguish over the government’s proposed property tax amid the ongoing “eviction drive”, saying he cannot be part of the “campaign” that “tortures” people.
As a public representative, I cannot be part of this law that marginalises people and snatches their bread and butter, the MC Bandipora said while addressing a press conference here.
“While people are already frustrated with the eviction drive, applying property tax at this time will also snatch their existence,” he said. “We will prefer resignation rather than be part of the property tax against the common people. Instead of compensating them, the government is further decimating them with the burden of property tax.”
Basharat said he was not against the eviction drive but the “employment and happiness of people must not be snatched away”.
“People here are dependent on their properties. The property tax over the eviction drive is grabbing people’s happiness. People live in trauma and fear now and I cannot remain silent over it,” he said. “The lockdowns of the Article-370 abrogation and the COVID-19 pandemic have devastated the people financially.”
“I along with my elected members of the council have always remained firm and will continue to inform the government that we as public representatives will not become part of this campaign,” the MC Bandipora said. “I have already expressed my anger over this in a meeting with the Commissioner Secretary and Urban Local Bodies that we public representatives will not be part of the drive which will put people in more distress.”
