Entry tax withdrawn from Agra Cantonment
Vishal Sharma
New Delhi/ Agra Less than a week after the Agra Cantonment Board installed its own entry tax barriers on the roads leading to the Taj Mahal and other monuments, the Agra district administration has put a firm ban on the new tax, claiming it was creating nuisance in the city and endangering the Taj Mahal from the pollution created by the vehicles crowding at the toll-tax barriers, just a couple of kilometres away from the monument.
According to Agra District Magistrate Mukesh Kumar Meshram, the toll tax barriers installed by the cantonment board on September 20 were close to the Taj Mahal and were creating chaos on roads leading to the monument. This was also causing air pollution around the Taj, as was evident in a report submitted by the UP Pollution Control Board.
Also, the entry tax was causing a serious law and order problem in the district because tax barriers were disturbing the normal passage of traffic through the city.
Meshram said if the tax barriers had not been removed, the situation could have worsened. Therefore, he had exercised the powers vested in him under Section 56(2) of the Cantonment Act, 2006, serving a notice to the board to immediately stop the recovery of entry tax from vehicles entering its limits.
This issue had also been referred to the Union defence ministry, which had the final say in such matters.
The Agra Cantonment Board, which controls parts of the town and access routes to various monuments including the Taj Mahal, had decided to impose entry tax on vehicles entering the limits of the cantonment. This had resulted in angry protests, raised by representatives of the local tourism industry.
According to Board Executive Officer Suresh Nagar, the board hoped to raise about Rs 10 crore each year from the entry tax, to be charged at 14 checkpoints marked on various roads entering the cantonment.
The tax was to be collected from all commercial vehicles entering the limits of the cantonment and the amount was then to be utilised for various developmental projects pending in the cantonment area, he said.
But the tourism industry, which claims to be most affected by this decision, opposed the new tax in all forums and had been holding protests and demonstrations against the tax for the past few days.
According to Agra District Magistrate Mukesh Kumar Meshram, the toll tax barriers installed by the cantonment board on September 20 were close to the Taj Mahal and were creating chaos on roads leading to the monument. This was also causing air pollution around the Taj, as was evident in a report submitted by the UP Pollution Control Board.
Also, the entry tax was causing a serious law and order problem in the district because tax barriers were disturbing the normal passage of traffic through the city.
Meshram said if the tax barriers had not been removed, the situation could have worsened. Therefore, he had exercised the powers vested in him under Section 56(2) of the Cantonment Act, 2006, serving a notice to the board to immediately stop the recovery of entry tax from vehicles entering its limits.
This issue had also been referred to the Union defence ministry, which had the final say in such matters.
The Agra Cantonment Board, which controls parts of the town and access routes to various monuments including the Taj Mahal, had decided to impose entry tax on vehicles entering the limits of the cantonment. This had resulted in angry protests, raised by representatives of the local tourism industry.
According to Board Executive Officer Suresh Nagar, the board hoped to raise about Rs 10 crore each year from the entry tax, to be charged at 14 checkpoints marked on various roads entering the cantonment.
The tax was to be collected from all commercial vehicles entering the limits of the cantonment and the amount was then to be utilised for various developmental projects pending in the cantonment area, he said.
But the tourism industry, which claims to be most affected by this decision, opposed the new tax in all forums and had been holding protests and demonstrations against the tax for the past few days.
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