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MCD steps up its Demolition drive in city

Tuesday, 14 December 2010 11:03 administrator
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Hindustan Times  14.12.2010

MCD steps up its Demolition drive in city

Stepping up its drive against illegal structures, the MCD on Monday sealed 28 properties and demolished eight unauthorized constructions in east Delhi, where 71 people lost their lives in a building collapse incident last month. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has been conducting special drives against unauthorized constructions in Shahdara (South) Zone, taking action against 143 properties in the past one week alone.

"Demolition has been taken against properties in Shakarpur J-Extension of Laxmi Nagar and Pandav Nagar. We will continue to take action against illegal structures," said a senior MCD official.

The MCD has put a renewed focus on curbing unauthorized constructions after a multi-storey building - with two illegal floors - collapsed in Lalita Park in Laxmi Nagar on the night of November 15.

In the first day of the drive in Lalita Park and nearby areas last week, violence erupted in the locality in which residents allegedly thrashed the local municipal councilor.

The MCD also demolished four properties under its Civil Lines zone.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 11:05
 

Plan to get more revenue from trade licences

Tuesday, 14 December 2010 10:06 administrator
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The New Indian Express  14.12.2010

Plan to get more revenue from trade licences

BHUBANESWAR: In the coming days, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will intensify its two operations - ‘Demolition’ and ‘Mop Up’.

Though the Civic body will maintain the heat persistently on the illegal hoardings, it has now decided to widen the drive to include all telecom companies that have set up their communication towers within the BMC jurisdiction. There is also a hint that the civic body is studying various ways adopted by other States to mop up more revenue from the existing resource base.

“The BMC is now losing crores as its revenue from the growing market of telecom tower business. It has come to our notice that most of the telecom towers (out of 279) installed in the city jurisdiction don’t have the occupancy certificates, which is mandatory under the provisions governing the telecom towers permission statute,” said Rina Mohapatra, Project Officer, BMC.

“So far we haven’t applied our mind in adopting any other State’s (Karnataka) revenue generation model of levying taxes on telecom towers installed here,” she said  “We are only adopting the Vizag civic model to augment more revenue from the trade licences”, she added.

The BMC has decided to give them three months time to produce the occupancy certificates during annual renewal exercise to obtain the NOC (no objection certificate) from the Corporation. If they fail to do so, the BMC will order for its seizure, added the PO.

Moreover, to tighten the noose against all illegal hoardings, the BMC will take the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) to eliminate the scope of corruption.

“Currently, taking advantage of shortage of manpower and by greasing the palms of some officials, many agencies have put up hoardings illegally on the Government lands. The GPS system will render this modus operandi ineffective,” said Rina.

She said the guidelines are clear. So, the violation is not because of any lacunae in the regulation but because of the laxity in its implementation.         

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 10:08
 

Lease over, KMC may take back prime business locations

Tuesday, 14 December 2010 06:51 administrator
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The Times of India       14.12.2010

Lease over, KMC may take back prime business locations

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation is keen on getting back some of its old buildings Futnani Chambers, which houses the popular Aminia restaurant, and the Roxy Cinema which it had once leased out to private takers nearly a century ago. With the lease period over long ago, the civic bosses want to hike the lease money or take over the buildings as part of jacking up revenues.

The civic authorities woke up six months ago when the KMC surveyor's department officials found that the lease period of Roxy cinema had expired in 2005. KMC had handed over the property, located on Corporation Street, in 1906 on a 99-year lease period. The property, on 1 bigha 5 cottah land, was given to a British merchant and the lease title was subsequently passed on to the present owner of Roxy Cinema in 1945. Now, KMC wants to get back the property from the present lessee. According to KMC sources, the civic body now gets a mere `8,400 annually from the prime property.

The civic brass has now set a new target to augment revenue from this property. "We have decided to renew the lease agreement on our terms. We are in the process of calculating the new rent. If the owners agree, there is no problem on our part to go for a fresh agreement," said a KMC official. According to a management official of Roxy Cinema, they, too, were eager to ink a fresh agreement. "We recently held a meeting with the civic brass. We have shown our interests in the renewal of the lease period," the official said.

However, the civic body has set its eyes on Futnani Chambers for a steady source of revenue generation. KMC had leased out the property to Hindustan Cooperative Insurance Company on a lease of 99 years. However, in 1945, the property was sub-leased to Monturam, a Karachi-based businessman by Hindustan Insurance after its merger with the Life Insurance Corporation of India. In the process, some of the city's prominent hotels, restaurants, a shoe major, beauty parlours have opened their outlets in the three-storey building, which is spread over 9 bigha. How much does KMC mop up as revenue from such a prime property? According to a KMC official, the rent is negligible and revenue from this property could go up 100 times of that.

The municipal commissioner, Arnab Roy, is learnt to have taken a firm stance on this issue. Roy wants to take over the entire property and then bring all major business establishments housed at Futnani Chambers under KMC's property tax net. The civic authorities have already issued a letter to the LIC management giving details about the lease agreement, six months ago. "Now, we want to take over the property so that we can earn substantial revenue from the business establishments housed in Futnani Chambers," said a KMC assessment collection department official. According to an estimate, the civic body could earn in crores once the property reverts to it.

 
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