Live till 100 if you want exemption from property taxes

A civic body devoid of sense would be a better way to describe the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. In a not very sane way to lure voters, keeping in mind the municipal polls in a few months, the Corporation has announced exemption of taxes for senior citizens aged 100 years or more.

As expected, the bizarre proposal has invited criticism from various parties in the opposition. "The current budget session is just seeing melodrama," fumed Mukesh Goel, leader of the opposition in the corporation. "How many senior citizens will you find who are 100 years or older?” he questioned.

Parvesh Wahi, chairman of the civic body's standing committee, who finalized the budget for 2017-18 also proposed measures such as providing mobile phones to safai karamcharis (sanitation workers), regularisation of 6,000 daily wagers, developing flower parks at the ward level, constructing 500 toilets for women in every ward and organising a monthly health camp for women in each ward.

“We want to equip safai karamcharis with mobile phones to strengthen sanitation services. This will help to contact them directly because we will put their phone numbers in public domain. Also, we propose to regularise the appointments of 6,000 daily wagers against vacancies in various departments and give them insurance cover,” Wahi explained the Economic Times.

While his party applauded the measure, the opposition asked if that will now become residents’ responsibility to call safai karmacharis whenever in need.