question_answer 7)

Several poor people in the city work as domestic servants as well as work for the Corporation, keeping the city clean. Yet the slums in which they live are quite filthy. This is because these slums seldom have any water and sanitation facilities. The reason often given by the Municipal Corporation is that the land in which the poor have set up their homes does not belong to them and that slum-dwellers do not pay taxes. However people living in middle class neighbourhoods pay very little in taxes compared to the amount of money the corporation spends on them in setting up parks, street lighting facilities, regular garbage collected etc. Also as you read in this chapter, the property taxes collected by the Municipality makes up only 25-30 per cent of its money. Why do you think it is important that the Corporation should spend more money on slum localities? Why is it important that the Municipal Corporation provide the poor in the city with the same facilities that the rich get?

Answer:

The corporation should spend more money on slum localities because of the following: (i) The share of general public in corporations earning stand between 70% to 75% in terms of collection of various taxes excluding only property tax. (ii) Sanitation and light fall in the category of basic needs mandatory to provide by corporation like authority in a city. It is the responsibility of the Municipal Corporation to keep the whole city clean and not part of it. If the poor are not given the same facility that the rich get, they will feel neglected and discriminated. All people are equal and everyone has a right to life. For example, the rich can buy mineral water if water is not available but how can poor purchased water?