Former Chief Minister and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday dubbed the steep increase in property tax an ill-conceived decision that would affect all sections reeling under the impact of COVID-19.
Leading a demonstration here, he said the pandemic had rendered thousands of people jobless. People were yet to recover from its impact. Instead of helping them to be back on their feet, the DMK government of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had effected a steep increase in property tax ranging from 25% to 150%. This was anti-people and anti-poor, he said.
The government was trying to hoodwink people by blaming the Central government for the increase, he said. In fact, the Centre had asked the States to revisit the property taxes by taking into account the current circumstances and did not ask them to go in for a steep increase. Moreover, the DMK, in its election manifesto, had said that if voted to power, it would not increase the property tax in view of the pandemic. But the party reneged on its promise and presented a gift to people who voted for it in the urban local bodies elections.
Mr. Palaniswami alleged that the government had been doing away with the welfare schemes introduced by the AIADMK government. The ‘thalikku thangam’ (gold for marriage) scheme had been abandoned without its impact having been taken into account. Poor and educated women were given 8 grams of gold and up to ₹90,000 in marriage assistance. Lakhs of women had benefited from the scheme. The government also planned to stop the free laptop scheme for students. The DMK would have to pay a heavy price for discarding the schemes introduced under AIADMK rule.
The Leader of the Opposition said the DMK had done nothing to improve the lot of people in 10 months of its rule. It had failed in all aspects of governance. Corruption was rampant. People were watching it so as to give it a lesson at an appropriate time.
Vellamandi N. Natarajan, district secretary, AIADMK Tiruchi (urban); M. Paranjothi, secretary, Tiruchi (north); and P. Kumar, secretary, Tiruchi (south); and others took part at the protest.
