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Tamil Nadu News Papers

Corporation’s decision to tax plots angers councillors

Thursday, 01 October 2009 01:03
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The Hindu 01.10.2009

Corporation’s decision to tax plots angers councillors

Staff Reporter

Say the move will place a burden on public

 

AIADMK councillors wanted to roll back the hike in plot tax

MDMK, DMDK councillors oppose resolution, stage walk out

ERODE: Erode Corporation Council, which met here on Wednesday, saw some acrimonious debate and walkouts over a resolution on taxing vacant plots.

At the monthly meeting the Corporation in Resolution 16 said it proposed to tax plots under its jurisdiction, as per Government Orders 205 of August 6, 2009 and 151 of August 20, 2009 and subsection 10 of Section 8 of Erode Corporation Act 2008.

It said vacant plots in residential areas and on streets and lanes could be charged between 20 and 40 paise a sq.ft., those on major roads and bus routes between 30 and 50 paise and plots on roads with bylanes and those on lanes of roads branching off from bus stand between 40 and 60 paise.

The Resolution also said it applied to local bodies that come under ‘A’ grade and as Erode was a Corporation the aforementioned charged applied. It further said that under its jurisdiction Erode Corporation had 724 plots with a demand of Rs. 2.89 lakh. Commissioner B. Balachandran told The Hindu that at present the civic body charged one per cent of the registration value of plots. As that varied from locality to locality, the Government to bring in uniformity issued the Government Orders fixing the slabs.

Further, the Resolution said it would be appropriate for the civic body to fix the tax value at the higher end that is at 40, 50 and 60 paise respectively, as the current demand of Rs. 2.89 lakh was very low and that more plots needed to be assessed.

Councillors objected to the Resolution saying it would be a burden on the public. Ward 23 Concillor Radhamani Bharathi registered her opposition in writing saying it would be a burden on the public.

Many AIADMK councillors too wanted the Council to roll back the hike in plot tax.

Led by N. ’Market’ Raja the Councillors staged a walk out. Councillors from MDMK and DMDK also joined.

However, not all councillors opposed the resolution. Congress Councillor from Ward 30 H.M. Jaffar Sadiq supported the Resolution saying it was important that the civic body adopted the Resolution because it would be difficult to do so after annexing neighbouring civic bodies to become a full fledged corporation.

At the end of the meeting, with opposition from a few councillors, the Council adopted the resolution.

Last Updated on Thursday, 01 October 2009 01:04
 

Chennai Corporation councillors declare assets

Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:55
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The Hindu 01.10.2009

Chennai Corporation councillors declare assets

Shyam Ranganathan

CHENNAI: Awareness created by the Right to Information Act has helped the Chennai Corporation with many of its councillors declaring their assets, according to officials of the civic body.

According to the Madras City Municipal Corporation (Disclosure of Assets) Rules, 1973, all councillors should disclose details of their assets by March 31 every year. But, only 25 of 155 councillors had declared their assets for 2006-07 and 2007-08 until January this year. The Mayor, M. Subramanian, then asked all the councillors to immediately provide details of their assets to the Corporation Council Secretary.

In reply to an RTI petition on the progress made following this order, the civic body said 96 of the 155 councillors declared the details. “Every day, one or two councillors provide details. They know to give exact details as they may serve as evidence at a future date,” a senior official said.

On making these details public, the official said it would require the Corporation Commissioner’s permission. “We have a sent a note to clarify if these records can be made public. Depending on the Commissioner’s decision, action will be taken,” the official said.

Last Updated on Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:58
 

Corporation to regulate private parking lots

Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:51
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The Hindu 01.10.2009

Corporation to regulate private parking lots

Staff Reporter

Licensing set to be made mandatory for the facilities

CHENNAI: As a first step towards regulating private parking lots and installation of mobile phone towers, the Chennai Corporation has decided to make licensing mandatory for the facilities.

Announcing this at the Council meeting of the civic body on Wednesday, Mayor M.Subramanian said that a survey of such parking lots would be conducted and rules and regulations framed. A resolution to this effect would be passed in the next council meeting. Mr.Subramanian said the private parking lots would also have to obtain a no-objection certificate from the police.

Earlier, Ward 78 councillor Lazar said that a two-wheeler parking lot near the Nungambakkam railway station had encroached upon two streets in the area.

Mr. Subramanian said he had also received a complaint that those running the parking lot were charging as much as Rs.25 per day from two-wheeler owners.

Later, the Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said that there were no regulations at present for such parking lots.

“We do not know how much they charge and who will be responsible if the vehicles are lost. We are looking at all possibilities. An NOC from Fire and Rescue Services would also be considered,” he added.

As regards mobile phone towers, the Mayor said that so far 2,533 towers had been identified by the civic body. The building owners would have to pay an additional amount as property tax if they rent out their premises for such telecom towers. “It would depend on the space rented out and the kind of tower installed.”

A senior civic body official said that Aircel, Vodafone and Tata Indicom had furnished details of their towers while three other operators, including BSNL, were yet to do so. The property owners charge monthly rents ranging from Rs.7,500 to Rs.20,000.

Last Updated on Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:54
 
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