Urban News

The Hindu 23.07.2009

VMC Commissioner urged to drop move to widen Bhagat Singh road

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: Residents of Bhagat Singh road submitted a memorandum to Municipal Commissioner P.S. Pradyumna at the adalat organised in the Circle-II office of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) at Satyanarayanapuram on Wednesday, urging him to shelve the proposal to widen their road.

The residents vehemently opposed the proposal and offered seven different plans to avoid the proposed widening of the road up to 65 ft. The main alternative they suggested was development of Madhura Nagar road, which would be convenient for traffic coming from Nunna, Nuzvid, Payakapuram and Vambay Colony.

They said nearly 60,000 people from Vambay colony and other areas go to Autonagar daily, and Madhuranagar road would be more convenient to them. The Corporation need not spend any additional money as it was already constructing two bridges and developing the Madhuranagar road from Bandar road to Vambay colony.

The residents also suggested that extension of present road from drain to drain would facilitate free movement of traffic. Apart from this, three major roads -- G.S. Raju road, C. K. Reddy road and Vambay colony road being developed could be used to facilitate traffic diversion as they directly connect to railway track road.

‘May cause jam’

The residents recalled that they surrendered their properties for the laying of Bhagat Singh road connecting Budameru bridge, and some of them had not been paid compensation even now for the land acquired in the 80s. More so, if the Bhagat Singh road was widened without constructing a second bridge across Budameru, it would result in traffic jam as the existing bridge was not wide enough and would turn out to be a bottleneck. The 100-ft road (BRTS road) from Gandhinagar to Madhuranagar and Machavaram road acts as an inner ring road to Satyanarayanapuram, Lakhsmi Nagar and other residential areas, and hence there was no need for the widening of Bhagat Singh road as the traffic coming from Nunna, Payakapuram, UDA colony, Kundavari Kandrika, Pathapadu, Rajivnagar and Ajit Singh Nagar could be diverted to 100-ft road through C.K. Reddy road, they said.

The Hindu 23.07.2009

Service tax revised in Dindigul

Staff Reporter

DINDIGUL: Dindigul Municipality has revised the Service Tax for commercial buildings, industrial units and factories for handling solid wastes, according to a release from the Municipality here on Wednesday.

Already the municipal council had approved the revision of tax structure and passed a resolution on June 25 in this connection. Persons who have any objections may represent in writing to the Municipal Commissioner within 30 days (between July 25 and August 24). Objections submitted after this deadline would not be considered.

According to the revised structure it would be Rs.5,000 for marriage hall, cinemas, hotels, textiles show rooms and two wheeler stand, Rs.4,000 for lodges, Rs.3,000 for private hospital or clinic, factories, Rs.2,000 for grocery wholesale shops, commission shed, breakfast stalls, leather units, footwear shops, note book sales centres, book stalls, bamboo tiles sales depot, finance office and metal vessels shop, Rs.1,500 for rice and grains whole sale, Rs.1,000 for paper marks, private school or office, home appliances, petrol bunks, ice making, textiles shops and pillow and bed sales, Rs.800 for sweet shops, food production tyre vulcanising centre, cracker sales, stockists, petrol bunks (under B category), fertilizer shops, chemicals shops, Rs.750 for chicken, mutton, fish, oil, milk sales shops, pharmacies and fancy stores, Rs.600 for printing press, banana leaf sale and plastic goods, Rs.500 for cool drinks shops and dry fish sales, fruit and vegetable shop, home appliances (small), small grocery shops, tea shops, workshops, paint sales, godowns and groundnut and fried grams sale, Rs.400 for tailoring shop, Rs.300 for mobile phone sales and photostat shop and Rs.200 for telephone booth and goldsmith shop only.