30 years after death, house tax notice to Mahadevi Verma

Lucknow: It cannot be passed off as mistake and if it is one, it deserves a severe punishment.

The Allahabad Nagar Nigam has served a notice for not paying house tax evasion to Mahadevi Verma, well known Hindi litterateur, who died three decades ago.

The notice says that if the house tax is not deposited, the Nagar Nigam will initiate attachment procedure.

House number 327/114 Ashok Nagar belongs to Mahadevi Verma, a doyen of Hindi literature, and the taxes due on the house are Rs 48,050.

While Nagar Nigam officials were unwilling to comment on the issue and said that the notice had been served as a “matter of routine”, councillor Mukund Tiwari said that he had asked the municipal commissioner Harikesh Chaurasia to cancel the notice in view of the contribution of the late litterateur.

“Insulting a person of her stature is an unfortunate development. If there is any due, the notice should have been sent to the trust that has been set up in her name”, he told reporters.

The municipal commissioner, meanwhile, said that he was apprised of the matter and would take action against those responsible for issuing the notice. Mahadevi Verma is known as one of the most outstanding Hindi poets . She is widely recognised as a modern “Meera” and represents the “Chhayawad” (neo-romanticism) form of poetry.

Mahadevi Verma was awarded India’s highest literary award, for lifetime achievement – the Sahitya Akademi fellowship in 1979 followed by the Jnanpith award in 1982.