Traders in Dhanbad are raising their voices against the ways in which the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) is realising their holding taxes. While businessmen in the coal town circle are protesting over the integrating of holding tax with the trade license renewal, those in Jharia are agitating over dual-realisation of holding tax by both DMC as well as Jharkhand Mineral Area Development Authority (JMADA).

Talking to The Telegraph Online on Tuesday, president of Bank More Chamber Commerce, Prabhat Surolia said, “The traders are soft targets of the reverence mopping exercise by tax realisation measure of the DMC. We are being squeezed with all kinds of taxes.”

“The DMC has made holding tax payment receipt submission mandatory for renewal of trade license, which is totally illogical. A shop operating from a rented accommodation can’t get its trade license renewed,” explained Surolia.

Mohammed Sohrab, president of Purana Bazar Chamber of Commerce, said, “It is totally unjustified to demand holding tax receipt as prerequisite for getting trade license renewal. A large number of shopkeepers, operating from rented accommodations, are finding it difficult to get the license due to non-submission of holding tax by their landlords.”

“If the rented shop operators pay the holding tax and get their own holding numbers, they will be caught in a legal dispute with the landlords. This may result in a sour relation with the landlords as after paying holding tax in their name they can stake ownership claim over the land” explained Sohrab.

He said that the situation was not like this in other places like Ranchi.

President of Jharia Chamber of Commerce Amit Sahu said, “We are the worst-affected by this policy of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation as we are already paying the holding tax to the JMADA. We are waiting for the renewal of the trade license as we don’t have the receipt of the DMC for holding tax payment, which is a prerequisite for renewal of trade license under the new rule.”

“We are fighting the issue of holding tax demand by the DMC for several years now as we are already paying it to the JMADA. Nowhere in the country the same tax is realised by two different bodies,” said Sahu.

He added that in the time of pandemic, where business activity has been affected for an entire year, imposition of such taxes is totally unjustified.