Too hot to handle: Kota drops plan to levy Swachh Bharat cess

Kota: Following protests from all sections of the society, including students and political parties, against levying the proposed Swachh Bharat cess on coaching institutes in the city, the Kota Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday decided to drop the controversial plan.
KMC will not put up the proposal for approval at the board meeting slated for next month as decided earlier.
Meanwhile, Jaipur mayor Ashok Lahoti confirmed that the plan to levy ‘swacch’ cess on coaching centres in Pink city has not been finalised and the matter was still under consideration.
Earlier on Monday, KMC commissioner had put forward the proposal to levy Swachh Bharat cess from coaching institutes with over 250 students at the revenue committee meeting. The plan was to levy Rs 1,000 each indirectly from about 1.5 lakh students registered in 15-odd coaching institutes.
The proposal was to be submitted for green signal at KMC board meeting to be held next month. But the plan triggered protests and attracted criticism from students, coaching institutes and politicians.
Sensing the outrage, Kota-Bundi MP Om Birla promised that the proposal would not be passed at the board meeting. Public representatives in KMC and local leaders, including MLAs, soon mounted pressure, forcing KMC to drop the proposal.
“The cess was only proposed and not finalized. If it was tabled at the board meeting, we would not have allowed it to be passed,” said Kota mayor Mahesh Vijay.
He further added that since the matter became controversial, he had consulted KMC councillors and public representatives, including the MP and MLAs, and eventually decided to drop it.
KMC would look into other revenue sources, he said.
The proposal was originally planned last year, but it was never put up on the meeting agenda, he said.
Currently, KMC spends about Rs 65 crore on cleaning works in the city. It was eyeing a revenue of over Rs 15 crore annually from levying the swachh cess on coaching institutes.