Gurgaon residents to stop paying municipal taxes

GURGAON - Protesting against collapse of civic services, Gurgaon residents launched a satyagraha (peaceful civil disobedience movement) Saturday and threatened to stop payment of municipal taxes and maintenance charges.

“It has been decided to boycott payment of all municipal and property taxes and maintenance charges to builders in case the situation does not improve within three months,” said R.S. Rathee, president of Gurgaon Citizen Council (GCC), a residents’ forum.

“There is a complete collapse of governance in Gurgaon leading to immense hardship and inconvenience to residents of what is touted as the Millennium City,” said another member of GCC.

“Successive governments did not pay heed to our pleas much less rein in builders, we have been left with no choice but to start a satyagraha or peaceful civil disobedience movement against the collapse of governance in Gurgaon,” he added.

The protest started with a prayer meeting at 10 a.m. at Sushant Lok on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.

The residents have been demanding a solution to water logging and sanitation problem in the area.

“This has occurred because Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has still not been able to provide sewerage and drainage. It has failed to build or properly maintain sector roads,” the GCC member said.

The residents are also demanding decongestion of Sushant Lok, DLF City, South City and other residential colonies and commercial complexes.

They also voiced concern over encroachment of parking area in malls, resulting in unauthorized parking in residential colonies nearby.

“This is the handiwork of no one else but builder-bureaucrat lobby, therefore we demand that the Millennium City be renamed as ‘Minimum City’,” said S.P. Dawar, general secretary of Sushant Lok residents’ welfare association.

“Power situation is another problem. The citizens have threatened to stop payment of electricity bills if the power situation doesn’t improve in three months,” he said.