The Indian Express         31.10.2013

PCMC faces Rs 270-cr loss, but assures big projects won’t be hit

The abolition of octroi and introduction of local body tax (LBT) has dealt a severe blow to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in terms of revenue collection and its plans to implement development projects. Compared to the six-month period of 2012 when octroi had generated a revenue of Rs 580 crore, the first six months of financial year 2013 have yielded Rs 448 crore from LBT — a shortfall of Rs 132 crore.

As the financial year progresses, PCMC fears it will face a loss of Rs 270 crore. The deficient revenue may also hit the development projects that the civic agency has planned for this financial year. However, it is confident of reducing the gap by a slew of initiatives aimed at generating revenue.

"Compared to last fiscal's octroi collection, PCMC may face a shortfall of Rs 270 crore," Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi told Newsline on Wednesday. He said they have launched a drive to cover property tax owners who have not been assessed till now. "The drive is aimed at zeroing in on citizens who have escaped the property tax net. We hope to get some revenue out of this," he said.

The civic chief also said they are looking at generating more revenue from building permissions. Importantly, he said, under LBT, PCMC has not been able to cover all traders and shopkeepers. "We have intensified our drive to bring under LBT those traders and shopkeepers who have not registered themselves," he said, adding that some more measure are still under consideration.

Pardeshi said these measures will help PCMC reduce the revenue shortfall by Rs 100 crore. "We have launched efforts to reduce the gap and are hopeful of achieving our goal," he said.

Significantly, he said big development projects — that have been launched this year or a couple of years ago — would not suffer in terms of funds. "This is because funds for the big projects have been guaranteed either by the Central or state government. Even the World Bank has provided assistance for the Rs 100-crore Nashik Phata flyover project," he said.

He, however, said some plans like carrying out renovations might suffer as PCMC will have to put a hold on them.

Shiv Sena leader Shirang Barne said since LBT has been introduced this year, PCMC has faced problems in its collection. "As PCMC gets maximum traders and shopkeepers under LBT net, the earnings will be as good as the octroi. Though in the first six months Rs 132-crore shortfall has been experienced, in future this will become lesser and lesser," he said.

Barne also said when a Shiv Sena delegation met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan recently, he expressed fear that PCMC may have to return the funds received under JNNURM for the controversial Maval closed pipeline project. "The CM said if the project remains stuck due to farmers' protest, PCMC will have to return the funds," said Barne. The project cost is nearly Rs 400 crore and the Centre's share is around 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, civic officials said PCMC's efforts towards the merger of Hinjewadi, Chakan, Dehu Road and other surrounding areas will help generate additional revenue. The proposal is under consideration of the state government.

Officials said except Chakan, the chances of merger of other areas cannot be ruled out as the development of these areas has been affected.

'Participate in citizens' budget'

Citizen's participation in PCMC's budget-making process has remained minimal despite efforts of the civic administration. The PCMC has therefore again urged citizens to come forward and make their suggestions to make it a participatory budget. In a bid to get more response, the PCMC has extended the deadline of October 25 for accepting suggestions on the participatory budget to November 3. Civic officials said the aim of the participatory budget is to take up small plans suggested by citizens. Towards this end, the PCMC had also some time ago organised a workshop of citizens to guide them on submitting suggestions. Officials said PCMC attaches importance to participatory budget, but is not getting the kind of response it had been expecting. "In the past, citizens did respond but the response was not overwhelming. We hope this year, there will good response," officials said. Senior civic officials said the educated class should come forward and make concrete suggestions. "Teachers and principals of schools and even college students should come forward and give their suggestions. Retired personnel and other working professionals are also expected to chip in. Civic activists always make suggestions, but other citizens show very little interest," officials said.

The Indian Express         31.10.2013

With Rs 1,000-cr revenue deficit, PMC won’t take up new projects

Staring at a 25 per cent deficit in revenue collection compared to the last fiscal, Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak has urged all civic departments to focus only on completing ongoing development works instead of starting new ones.

On Tuesday, the civic administration reviewed budget implementation for the first six months of the financial year and found that the revenue collection is "much lesser" than the set target. The estimated budget of PMC for the current financial year is Rs 4,167 crore and the revenue collection by September-end has been Rs 1,500 crore. "The estimate submitted by various civic departments indicate that the revenue collection is going to be 25 per cent less than the set target of Rs 4,167 crore.The shortage is going to be huge and the only alternative is to cut the expenditure," said a civic official.

Worried over the emerging situation, the civic chief has asked heads of all civic departments to be careful in spending funds. "The focus should be on completing the work that spilled over from last year instead of starting new projects. There should not be any spillover for the next year as the situation is going to be more tight in 2014-15 due to committed expenditure for implementing Metro rail project and new projects under JNNURM," he said.

The PMC budget estimate went wrong due to the impact of revenue collection from local body tax (LBT), introduced this financial year to replace octroi. The civic administration has set revenue from LBT to be around Rs 1,700 crore, while it has managed to collect only Rs 500 crore in the first half of the year. "The LBT department has conveyed that it can manage collection of up to Rs 1,100 crore in the year as against the set Rs 1,700 crore. Further, the revenue collection from property tax and building permissions is also not going to be as estimated due to the slowdown in real estate business," said a senior official from the civic accounts department.

"The overall revenue collection is going to be Rs 1,050 crore less than the estimate," he said, adding that of the remaining Rs 3,000 crore, the fixed expenditure of Rs 1,800 crore of PMC goes in paying salaries, maintenance and administrative work.

Meanwhile, the LBT department is exploring all possibilities to increase its revenue collection and is consulting other civic bodies on the steps taken by them to get maximum revenue collection from LBT.