“Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya is not larger than the party. He cannot act on his whim and fancy. If he feels that there is a need for implementing water tax, he should discuss it in the Left Front party meeting,” said Nihar Roy Choudhury of Forward Bloc.
However, the mayor retorted that he felt there was no need to discuss the issue in a Left Front meeting. He added that the water tax would be implemented only if necessary. “The civic body’s decision will be final in the matter,” he said.
“If the mayor thinks that he will hold on to his stubborn idea, we will be compelled to withdraw our support from KMC,” said Moinuddin Shams of Forward Bloc. Out of 141 councillors, four, including one MMiC, belong to the Forward Bloc.
“The total annual expenditure of the water supply department is about Rs 130 crore. And the total revenue earned by the department is around Rs 30 crore. Hence, the implementation of water tax stands justified,” said CPM-backed MMiC of the Water Supply department, Mrinal Mondol.
But his colleague, Forward Bloc-backed MMiC of the Health Department, Subodh Dey said, “I do not think that implementation of water tax will increase the revenue of the water supply department. If the matter is subjected to vote, I will be against it.”
Apart from Dey, the other three Forward Bloc councillors in KMC are -Rehana Khatoon (44), Jhuma Das (34) and Nizamuddin Shams (78). All of them have stated that they will stand by their party’s decision and not the mayor’s, regarding the implementation of water tax. The issue of implementing water tax in KMC area was discussed in last year’s budget.
Apart from the water tax issue, the deputation also stressed that the KMC should not privatise its health clinics and schools. The civic body has been asked not to encourage the entry of private parties like Reliance in the retail and wholesale sectors of the city markets.