Transfer rights of tax collection back to Gram Panchayats

Aurangabad, March 8:

Demanding to restore the rights of tax collection from industries in the Waluj industrial area to the Gram Panchayats (GP) as before, the office bearers of all the GP in Waluj met the guardian minister Subhash Desai in Mumbai on Monday and handed a statement of demands.

There are about 4,000 small and large scale industries in Waluj and in the past, the GPs were collecting taxes from the factories. However, as the GP office bearers were forcibly collecting taxes, the business community had demanded that the MIDC administration be given the right to collect the tax. Due to the continuous pursuit of the industrial association, for the last three-four years, the government has taken away the tax collection rights of the GP and started tax collection through the MIDC administration. The GPs of Jogeshwari, Waluj, Ranjangaon, Pandharpur, Ghanegaon, Waladgaon, Sajapur-Karodi and Wadgaon have been hit hard financially due to transfer of factory tax collection rights to MIDC. As the 50 per cent share is being given to the GPs after the collection of taxes from the MIDC administration, the financial planning of the GPs in the industrial area has collapsed and hampered the development works in the villages.

Delegation demands transfer of rights

A delegation of Sarpanchs and deputy Sarpanchs of all the GPs under the guidance of MLC Ambadas Danve met Desai in Mumbai and had a detailed discussion. Desai has promised to hold a joint meeting of senior MIDC officials and GP office bearers soon to increase the revenue of the GPs and resolve the issue of tax collection.