LUCKNOW: In response to
complaint chorused by corporators about residents being overcharged and
being compelled to pay compound interest during collection of house tax,
mayor Dinesh Sharma instructed officials to form a committee for
transparent assessment of taxes and applicable interests on them. At the
annual budget meeting of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation members on
Tuesday, corporators also criticised poor results in bringing all
residential and commercial units under the tax net. They also questioned
LMC’s inability to restore land encroached. Municipal commissioner RK
Singh said they had been able to cover almost 70% units under house tax
in Lucknow.

Several corporators raised the issue of cleanliness
in wards claiming that their wards were not attended regularly by LMC
workers. They complained that their zonal officers rarely visited wards
and remained unavailable even on phone. Many corporators complained
their wards had not received any development funds from LMC for past
many years from either of the fund sources-Samagra Vikas Yojna
infrastructure funds, or 13th finance commission’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The commissioner replied saying LMC currently has just 5,300 workers
and has a shortage of around 3,000 more workers to attend each ward. He
said he had proposed admission of 2,300 more workers to deal with
manpower shortage. He said corporators’ demand for development would
cost a total of Rs 70 crore whereas they have a provision of just Rs 10
crore to spend this year. “That is why we are selectively carrying out
development in wards in a phased manner and giving top priority to most
underdeveloped and poor wards this time,” added Singh.

LMC
expects a provisional income of Rs 1,126 (including balance) crore for
the FY 2013-14 which is around Rs 100 crore more than previous year’s
expected income. ‘Jal Kal’ department, the water and sewerage agency has
made a provision of Rs 143.54 crore income for 2013-14 while the
proposed expenditure is Rs 155.20 crore, a loss of around Rs 12 crore.

Singh said because of strict regularisation of outdoor advertisements
in the past one year, they have been able to generate Rs 3.24 crore as
compared to the previous year’s Rs 2.28 crore. He also added that next
year with the approval of revised rates they have a target of around Rs 8
crore to achieve as advertisement tax. The rules also emphasises
inclusion of new categories like back panels of vehicles, advertisements
on private properties, etc.

Dog-gone

When a corporator raised issue of proxy attendance marked by cattle
catchers, the budget meeting ended up discussing dogs. The corporator
said while the documents show there are 60 cattle catchers, only 15 work
on site and rest are serving in homes of higher officials rather than
in wards. Many stray dogs died in his ward due to negligence of cattle
catchers, he said, to which some enquired about the colour of dogs that
had died. Corporators in sarcasm, praised the ‘dog show’ conducted by
LMC.

New ad rates from 2013

Nagar
Nigam has finally succeeded to implement the revised rates of
advertisements in the city. LMC has proposed to increase the advertising
taxes in V.I.P. areas from the old rate of Rs 100 per square feet per
year to the present Rs 2,000 per square metre per year. Tax rates in
localities falling under category A (areas like Shahmina market, Medical
College, Polytechnic Chauraha) would be raised from Rs 60 per square
feet to Rs 1,200 per square metre per year. Similarly, taxes would be
increased in areas falling within category B (areas like Kaiserbagh and
Chowk) and C (in residential colonies) from Rs 50 to Rs 1000 and from Rs
40 to Rs 800 per square metre per year, respectively.

Girish
Mishra, a corporator from Sardar Patel ward alleged that a huge scam was
taking place in the name of outdoor advertising in the city. He
informed that out of 62 hoardings from Charbagh up to Alambagh, only
seven have paid taxes. Similarly, out of 37 hoardings from Sringarnagar
to Telibagh, only eight have deposited taxes to LMC. He alleged that the
entire money was going into the pockets of some officials instead of
LMC coffers.