BJP manifesto to focus more on free water and less taxes

Gearing up to garner votes in the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, the city unit of BJP that is in the process of finalising the party manifesto intends to link taxes paid by the citizens to BMC’s performance, if elected. Senior party leaders said they want to give a rebate to citizens from street tax and freeze water usage charges for the five years.

 

A senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader who is part of the manifesto committee said, “Until the condition of roads under BMC is deemed satisfactory by Mumbaikars, we will not collect street tax.”

 

The street tax constitutes nearly 13 per cent of the general tax collected by the BMC from citizens. In 2015-16, the BMC collected Rs 700 crore through street tax.

 

The party is also promising a freeze on the water usage charges levied on citizens until a BJP-led BMC fulfils the promise of providing 24×7 water supply.

 

When Mirror contacted Mumbai BJP president and legislator Ashish Shelar, he chose not to elaborate on BJP’s plans for tax sops but confirmed that the party is “working towards reducing citizens’ tax burden”. Ahead of the BMC elections, the BJP invited suggestions from people to be included in its manifesto. Till date, it has received more than 2,000 suggestions from the public, said a senior BJP leader who is part of the party’s manifesto committee.

 

Another key feature of the BJP’s manifesto will be to ensure availability of public toilets for women within 1 sq km area. The BMC will also launch a mobile application to help women locate a public toilet closest to their location so that “women don’t have to suffer the embarrassment of asking strangers for directions,” a BJP leader requesting anonymity said. Other than these, the party plans to work on better health provisions and increased transparency in terms of the civic body’s functions.

 

 

The BJP proposes to provide health cards and free annual health checkups to citizens. The data collected through health checkups will be used to design strategies to combat various diseases, another party leader said. The leader did not wish to be identified.

 

A key pillar of the BJP’s manifesto will be transparent functioning of BMC, which aims at maximising use of technology and reduce human intervention that in turn will reduce corruption to a large extent, the party added.