BMC Approves Property Tax Waiver for Hotels
Despite the strong objection raised by opposition leaders, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) standing committee, on Wednesday, approved the proposal to waive off the three months’ property tax of hotels take over amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The civic body will waive off Rs 22 crore of property tax of 167 hotels across Mumbai as a gesture of gratitude. However, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in BMC and Congress corporator Ravi Raja, on Tuesday, wrote to the civic chief, officially lodging his objection against the waiver and calling it unfair and unethical. The LoP and other corporators pointed out that majority of these hotels have not paid the property tax arrears to the civic body, which amounts to over Rs 144 crore. These hotels were taken over by the civic body at the height of the pandemic to house high-risk contacts, health workers and civic staff. Since a tax waiver of such level requires the state government’s clearance, which is a time-consuming procedure, BMC’s Health Department will pay the tax (Rs 22 crore) on behalf of these 167 hotels for now. “This is a gesture of gratitude towards these hotels. They helped us when we needed space to house our staff and doctors and people arriving from other countries,” BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal had told the Free Press Journal. The tax waiver is for the three months (April, May and June) and will act as a big relief to the hotels that faced huge losses during the lockdown. BMC took over close to 5,000 hotel rooms. People arriving from other countries needed to be quarantined for the mandatory 14 days. It also needed rooms to house other high-risk contacts and its own staff, including doctors and nurses, who would have posed a risk to their families if they went home from work every day after work.
Tags : News/Views BMC Property hotels COVID-19 lockdown Tax Waiver