Punjab Congress on Saturday asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to roll back the exorbitant fees on regularising the unauthorised colonies saying the SAD-BJP alliance Government was acting in desperation to bridge the revenue deficit and imposing an irrational tax structure to cover up their failures.
In a statement issued, Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa said that earlier it was exorbitant property tax, now the SAD-BJP Government has imposed hefty fees for regularisation of so called “illegal” residential colonies.“Government decision of charging fee of Rs 400 per sq feet from owners of plots in about 5,340 colonies across the State would hit nearly two lakh families,” he said alleging that corruption in the government was major reason for mushrooming of illegal colonies.
Demanding a roll back of hefty fee imposed on “illegal” colonies, Bajwa said that instead of helping out the victims and penalising Government officials who allowed illegal colonies, the SAD-BJP Government is harassing the common people.Bajwa alleged that SAD-BJP Government was likely to impose fresh taxes to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore on people. He said that State Government has mooted a proposal to impose professional tax on lawyers, doctors, private teachers and architects etc.