The Sangharsh Samiti of nine villages, Nagrik Sangharsh Samiti and Business Association staged joint protest against the Pauri Municipal Board for imposing house tax in the nine villages, introducing additional house tax and commercial tax in Pauri town.
The businessmen of the town kept their shops closed on Friday in support of the agitation. The dissatisfied citizens from different sections of society and nine villages rallied against the municipal board and submitted the memorandum to District Magistrate through the Additional District Magistrate Ravneet Cheema, demanding the cancellation of all taxes imposed by the Municipal Board President Yashpal Benam and to redress the problems being faced by the public due to shortage of doctors in the district hospital, to speed up the construction work of Pauri bus station, to start the construction of sanctioned nursing college and proper disposal of the garbage.
The women from the villages expressed their anger to Additional District Magistrate stating that the municipal board is dumping the garbage in the nearby Pauri, Kandai, Chuincha villages, due to which the natural water source in the area has become contaminated which in turn has increased the risk of disease. They requested the adminstration to take action to redress the problem caused by the municipality. Addressing the protesters, former Vyapar Sabha president Brijendra Rawat alleged that Benam had imposed the commercial tax on business community only due to the fact that the business association had supported the public demand for constructing the new Collectorate building in the Jail Garden premises against the wishes of Benam.
Business association president Virendra Rawat said that it would be better if the municipal board head also consulted the people concerned before taking major decisions which would affect them. All those participating in the protest expressed their anger at the allegedly negative attitude of Benam and warned that the public will not tolerate the autocratic behavior. The Nagrik Sangharsh Samiti president Jagdish Bisht, convenor of the nine villages' Sangharsh Samiti, Sumant Negi, former municipal board president Rajendra Prasad Tamta and many others condemned the 'anti-public' decision of the municipal board chairman.