S.P.Pandey ,Chandigarh April 09, 2009: BJP candidate for Chandigarh parliamentary constituency Mr Satya Pal Jain today criticised the proposal to impose house tax in Chandigarh on the advice of Finance Commission in spite of the fact that Chandigarh Municipal Council has 500 crore rupees in its bank account. Addressing a press conference here he regretted the fact that Chandigarh Housing Board has a cash balance of Rs 300 crore and Chandigarh MC has Rs 500 crore as fixed deposits in its bank accounts but these funds are not being used for development of Chandigarh. He said these funds have come from the common man by way of taxes or from sale of real estate assets of the city and should have been used for the development of Chandigarh since Chandigarh administration or Municipal Council or any government body is not expected to behave as a capitalist who is working for earnings or profits. Public funds come from the hard labour of common man and should have been used for development of Chandigarh. The money kept in banks is losing value due to inflation and recession while it should have been used for development of the city. He put the congress party in the dock by saying that while they have not plans to use the money already with them, they are planning to levy more taxes. He questioned the wisdom of raising the tax burden of the citizen without the ability to use available funds.
He opposed the proposal to levy another tax in Chandigarh and said on coming to power BJP will not levy any tax on residential buildings. He said Chandigarh does not get any share in the taxes collected in the city while state governments get a fixed share in the taxes collected in their territories as such there is no justification for any new taxes in Chandigarh. Jain said only a small amount out of the massive tax revenues raised here is allocated for the development of Chandigarh, this year even the existing budget allocation for Chandigarh has been reduced.. Jain said under these circumstances there is no justification for raising or levying of new taxes in Chandigarh.
He said people of Chandigarh face many problems relating to roads, power and water. In the last ten years no new plan for expansion of railway station or flyover etc has been approved for Chandigarh, in fact even the existing facilities have been reduced. The discord between Congress government at centre, Congress MP, Municipal Council and local Congress leaders has stalled all development works in the city. The Chandigarh MP has wasted the last five years in childish quarrelling. In stead of development he has only offered excuses.
Mr Jain held failure to call meetings of Union Home Ministers advisory committee for Chandigarh and Administrators advisory committee for Chandigarh as a result of incompetence and poor decision making of the Congress party. He compared these Congress strategies with sleep walking and said this has stalled development. This has happened because of incompetence and poor decision making of the Congress party.
Mr Jain said while common man has approved of the BJP manifesto promise and assurance of party?s Prime Ministerial candidate Mr LK Advani to get back the Indian funds from foreign banks, silence of Congress party is baffling. He said this is nation?s wealth and should be used for the development of the country.
Mr Jain criticised the Congress MP for not doing anything in respect of demand for more CGHS dispensaries in the city and said on coming to power in the centre BJP will get five more CGHS dispensaries for Chandigarh.
Referring to the recent decision barring acquisition of land in Chandigarh UT Mr Jain asked why this was not done five years back. He felt that Congress party has realised that people of Chandigarh are going to tech them a lesson. He said Congress leaders are going round with bags of money in search of targets for defection as they have realised that the ground beneath their feet is slipping. He said it is because of our strength in the colonies that efforts are being made to entice and lure our leaders.
Mr Jain justified the uproar against grant of congress tickets to Mr Jagdish Tytler and Mr Sajjan Kumar and said congress is the biggest communal minded party in the country. It is for this reason that it is provoking Sikhs at one time and Muslims or others on the other occasion.
The press conference was attended by State Party Chief Mr Kamla Sharma, General Secretary Mr Sanjay Tandon and former Party Chief Mr Yash Pal Mahajan.