The City Corporation is arranging facilities for the beneficiaries of various pension schemes who are bedridden to avail the Aadhaar card and open a bank account. A team of officials will visit houses from September 23 to 30 to provide the facility.

Ahead of that, ward councillors have to prepare a list of such beneficiaries in their own wards who have not availed Aadhaar cards or opened bank accounts.

The team will comprise representatives of lead bank, Akshaya Centres, IKM and an official from the Corporation.

Before rolling out this facility, a round of discussion will be held with the lead bank officials. “For bank account, the thumb impression of the beneficiary can be taken only in the presence of the bank officer. So, their participation must be ensured during the visit, or else we have to seek government nod to arrange Kudumbashree members instead to collect the fingerprints,” said Palayam Rajan, Welfare Standing Committee chairman of the Corporation.

The Corporation has altogether 33,000 people who avail various kinds of beneficiary pensions. Of which, 63 per cent possess bank account and have taken Aadhaar cards.

A review meeting towards pension updating was convened in the Corporation office on Wednesday that was inaugurated by Deputy Mayor G Happykumar. Palayam Rajan, Town Planning Standing Committee chairperson Vanaja Rajendrababu and revenue officer A Unnikrishnan Nair were also present.

The Cochin Corporation is pulling up its socks to bring money into its coffers. A slew of measures are on its way to boost the financial situation of the corporation.

The corporation has brought to the notice of the state government the need for another look at the new tax revisions adopted in 2013, as they are not enough to earn reasonable taxes from newly constructed buildings. It has also pointed out to the state government the need to revise the slabs of professional tax which was formulated a long time back. Earlier, reports had pointed out that property tax and professional tax were the thrust areas where the corporation faces a severe revenue drop. The shortage of revenue inspectors in a city like Kochi, which is developing at a fast pace, was also pointed out.

A dues repayment of Rs 24 lakh had been demanded by the Kerala State Civil Supplies Authorities (KSCSA) from the corporation. Regarding this, the corporation said that KSCSC has not yet clarified which vehicles were responsible for the dues.

 Apart from the unavailability of details of vehicles, sources also point out that KSCSC itself is indebted to the corporation, as they have to pay up Rs 35 lakh as property taxes.

Also, steps have been accelerated to rein in two serious tax defaulters: the state and the Central government owned buildings. Officials said that surcharges will be slapped on the Central government buildings and default property taxes will be booked and levied from the state government buildings on a war footing.

In addition to the Rs 70 lakh that the corporation is spending on pensions for regular workers, it will press the state to release 40 crores for the same. Sources say that the contractors, who have been given Rs 70 lakh in the last three years, will also benefit from the revenue inflow into the corporation.

Leaving the ones that are sub-judice, Rs 3.75 crore has already been levied in the last year from constructions that were found as illegal, adding an additional revenue for the corporation. Cash is also expected to flow into the corporation from its new initiatives to collect revenue surplus from advertisements and other resources.

“We are waging a war to boost the income of the corporation which often goes unnoticed”, said a source in the corporation.