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GHMC hit by cheque ‘bouncer’

Thursday, 02 May 2013 05:24 administrator
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The Hindu                 02.05.2013

GHMC hit by cheque ‘bouncer’

About a month after crowing about the highest ever property tax collection of nearly Rs.800 crore, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is to issue notices to 400-odd taxpayers for defaulting on payments. Apparently, the cheques issued before the last month end deadline had bounced.

Criminal cases

“It amounts to about Rs.5 crore. We are going to deal with these misdemeanours very seriously. We are securing information from the deputy commissioners concerned so that criminal cases can be booked against the defaulters,” said Additional Commissioner (Finance) K. Ashok Reddy.

Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu had earlier made it clear that while there were cheque bounce cases in the previous years too, this time the civic body was not going to take it lying down and would follow it up with criminal cases against tax defaulters.

Similarly, efforts were on to look into the long-pending property tax cases stuck in courts. All the standing counsels have been asked to take steps for proper reconciliation by mid-May so that a substantial sum could flow into the civic body’s coffers.

Tax collection could have easily crossed the Rs.1,000-crore mark if the municipal corporation had managed to collect the requisite dues from Central and State government properties. The State could give just Rs.20 crore of the projected Rs.70 crore before the financial year 2012-2013 ended on March 31. Collection from Central government properties too had been paltry because of the conflict with South Central Railway over the “service charge” (75 p.c. of property tax as mandated by the Supreme Court). South Central Railway had paid less than one-third of the demand of Rs.16 crore.

There have been quite a few cases where government undertakings like the APSRTC have not paid the demand figure raised while turf battles between APTransco and Central Power Distribution Company Limited have blocked at least Rs. 4 crore, explain senior officials.

Profession tax

From last year collection of profession tax was supposed to have been the GHMC’s job, but most of the money thus collected within the city limits went into the government treasury.

While the corporation expected Rs.100 crore to Rs. 300 crore, the figure has been just Rs.50 crore.

Corporation to issue notices to 400-odd taxpayers for defaulting on payments as cheques issued by them bounce.

 

Move to start drive for potable water

Wednesday, 01 May 2013 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian express                01.05.2013

Move to start drive for potable water

Laying emphasis on the need to keep the likely spread of epidemics and fever in the state under check, with the onset of monsoon not far away, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy would personally write to captains of all the local bodies in the state to take up a concerted awareness drive and an action plan.

Addressing mediapersons after a high-level meet on measures to control fever and the chances of outbreak of an epidemic, Chandy said that a campaign for the distribution of  potable water and mosquito control would be launched across the state. “The Health Department, Kerala Water Authority and local bodies would be involved in the collective campaign,” he said.

Local bodies would be instructed to organise ward-level meets and stabilise the grass roots-level support for the programme,through people’s involvement.

Health Minister V S Sivakumar said that steps would be taken to ensure that water used by soda and ice manufacturers have the prescribed quality levels. The awareness campaign would also lay thrust on consumption of only boiled water as a habit.

Ensuring water quality checks under the local bodies would be the responsibility of a team led by respective panchayat secretaries. Water Resources Minister P J Joseph, Health Panchayat - Water Resources Department secretaries and top officials attended the meet.

Each grama panchayat ward would be allocated Rs 25,000 each for prevention measures, the break-up for which would be Rs 10,000 from NRHM, Rs 10,000 from the Health Department and ` 5,000 from the panchayat’s own fund. Junior health inspectors and junior public health nurses would be in-charge of the ward-level activities. The ward-level sanitation committees of each panchayat have been directed to evaluate the prevention measures before May 6.

Areas which have reported an epidemic outbreak in the past and which are still prone to it will be identified to take preventive measures. District-level evaluation talks would be held on May 15. The equipment and chemicals required for mosquito eradication would be stored by ward-level committees. For diagnosis, the plan is to avail the services of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, National Institute of Virology at Alappuzha, DCRG, Pondicherry and Virology institute, Manipal.

 

Aurangabad Municipal Corporation takes steps to reduce expenditure

Tuesday, 30 April 2013 12:12 administrator
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The Times of India               30.04.2013

Aurangabad Municipal Corporation takes steps to reduce expenditure

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has initiated several cost cutting measures to mitigate the burden of heavy fiscal deficit. Municipal commissioner Harshdeep Kamble recently instructed officials to bring down expenditure on telephone bills, local conveyance and advertising.

Kamble emphasised on the need to adopt means to cut down on the civic body's expenditure. During a recent meeting, he directed the department heads to prepare a detailed report of expenses and sought suggestions to reduce those.

Deputy engineer Devidas Pandit on Monday said he would submit a detailed report of expenses on transportation. He said besides city mayor, the municipal body has provided twenty six vehicles to its senior officers for local conveyance.

As per the state government guidelines, the officers get petrol and diesel quota. For petrol cars, AMC pays Rs 5,000 to the officers every month while for diesel cars it offers 125 litre fuel. Officers pay for all the expenses beyond the fixed limit.

Pandit said some senior officers had been granted relaxation from the quota. The civic body also has two hundred vehicles like trucks, mini-trucks, hook loaders, skip loaders, auto rickshaws for solid waste management and other civic facilities.

A senior officer in public relation department said the civic body was planning changes in its advertising budget to cut down expenditure. "We have brought down the number of newspapers to give advertisements. Now, the corporation will give ads only in three newspapers against the earlier pattern of six," he said.

Officer in accounts department said the corporation plans to reduce monthly payment for mobile phones. The civic body pays fixed charges for the mobile phone to its officers. The civic body reimburses Rs 240 every month per staff towards the mobile bill.

Apart from this, AMC is also gearing to mop up more taxes in the current financial year. The civic body has formed three special teams for collection of property tax, which will start recovery from May 2013. Previously, the tax collection department used to swing into action in the last financial quarter. Further, to improve revenue generation through water charges and property tax from slum dwellers, the corporation is planning door to door visits.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 April 2013 12:13
 
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