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‘Early Bird’ offer pays rich dividend to GHMC

Monday, 01 May 2017 00:00 administrator
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The Hindu        01.05.2017 

‘Early Bird’ offer pays rich dividend to GHMC

Rs. 365 crore property tax collected in one month

The ‘Early’Bird’ offer introduced by the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) to aggressively collect property tax paid rich dividends.

A total of Rs. 365 crore was paid by around 5.15 lakh citizens in the first month of the financial year. In April in the year 2016-17, Rs. 213 crore, more than Rs. 150 crore less than the current year, was collected. Almost two lakh additional payers were seen availing the offer this year when compared to the previous year.

According to the GHMC officials, almost 50% of the total tax payers made the payments in April.

The most preferred mode of payment used was the citizen service centres with a collection of Rs. 100 crore. Through Meeseva, Rs. 40 crore was collected while more than Rs. 100 crore each was deposited as tax through online platforms and bill collectors. On the last day of the ‘Early Bird’ offer, the citizens services counters were open on Sunday because of which Rs. 20 crore was collected as property tax. The number of trade license payers also increased this year. Around Rs. 21 crore was paid as trade license fee without penalty. This year in the first month of the financial year, 12,000 additional traders paid the fee compared to the previous year for April month.

 

GHMC to privatise upkeep of sanitation on select roads

Saturday, 29 April 2017 11:42 administrator
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The New Indian Express             29.04.2017 

GHMC to privatise upkeep of sanitation on select roads

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has decided to engage a private operator to maintain proper sanitation on selected main roads in the city as well as ensure standards of hygiene and environmental management on those roads. 

The GHMC has been doing sanitation work on these roads through outsourcing workers but now plans to utilise the commercial and technical expertise of a private agency.

A special user charge of Rs 500 per instance can be collected by the operator from anyone found littering, throwing garbage or debris on the roads. The operator is to check unauthorised pasting of posters or erection of banners, especially during night time, on these  roads.

The operator will also be responsible for door-to-door collection of garbage from shops, establishments and residences situated on both sides of the main roads.Cleaning of footpaths and removal of litter, garbage and debris from the roads will also be part of the responsibility. In short, the roads are to be kept neat and  litter-free. 

According to GHMC officials, the operator is to ensure door-to-door collection from all shops, establishments and residences along the city’s arterial roads except bulk garbage-generating establishments like restaurants and hotels as GHMC is already engaged in collection of bulk garbage.

The collection will be carried out everyday as per the mutual convenience of the owners of the premises and the operator. This operation, the GHMC thinks, will discourage and dissuade these establishments from throwing garbage and litter on the footpaths or roads. 

The collected garbage will be deposited at the designated locations of GHMC for each package. User charges will be collected by the operator and deposited into the GHMC’s account. The operator can recycle the waste which can generate revenue for him.

The operator will also be responsible for daily cleaning of sidewalks and footpaths,  removal of waste or silt deposited at road junctions and on footpaths. 



The civic body will deploy mechanised machines to sweep these roads once everyday but maintenance of cleanliness of these roads throughout the day will be the responsibility of the operator. 

The operator has to deploy the required manpower and vehicles or make other arrangements to check littering and dumping of garbage and debris on roads.

It has come to the knowledge of GHMC that commercial establishments dump litter or garbage on roads soon after the sanitary workers sweep those stretches. This litter and garbage get scattered around due to wind, leading to poor sanitary conditions. Further, pedestrians, shoppers, motorists and other commuters throw litter which is not removed by sanitary workers till the next day. Moreover, there is illegal dumping of garbage and debris at night apart from pasting of posters and erection of banners. Hence the decision to rope in a private agency.

Roads selected 

  1. Begumpet flyover to Punjagutta junction to Banjara Hills Roads No 2 and 3
  2. Banjara Hills to Road No 36, Jubilee Hills 
  3. Masab Tank Jn to Road No.1 Banjara Hills-Nagarjuna Circle
  4. Road No 12, Banjara Hills to Filmnagar Junction to Jubilee Hills Check-post 
  5. Raj Bhavan Road 
  6. Somajiguda Jn to Khairatabad Jn
  7. Khairtabad Jn-Telugu Talli flyover- Indira Gandhi statue-Ambedkar statue- Assembly Jn.
 

BBMP scrambling to get drains ready before monsoon

Friday, 28 April 2017 10:42 administrator
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The Hindu         28.04.2017 

BBMP scrambling to get drains ready before monsoon

Debris is yet to be cleared from this rajakaluve in Rajarajeshwari Nagar from which encroachments were removed.K. Murali KumarK_MURALI_KUMAR  

Though encroachments have been removed from nearly 22 km ofstorm-water drains, not much has been done to strengthen the network

After the controversy around demolishing structures built on encroached storm-water drains (SWDs), the BBMP has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to reconstructing the drain network

Although monsoon is just a month away, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) seems to be under-prepared to handle rains. After several areas were inundated last monsoon owing to choked drains, the BBMP had demolished several structures and recovered nearly 22 km of SWDs.

However, the civic agency has just completed concretising 1.8 km of the drain network. Worse, BBMP has not maintained records of the extent of drains recovered in the first phase of encroachment removal from January to July 2016.

The BBMP had identified 1,953 encroachments of which 1,225 were removed in three phases starting January 2016. A 22-km stretch, spreading across 11 acres and 21 guntas, was recovered in the second and third phase of the drive, said BBMP officials. “A 1.8 km stretch of RCC drain in Bommanahalli has been reconstructed,” said BBMP chief engineer (SWD) Siddegowda. “Work is in progress in Dasarahalli, Kasavanahalli, Byatarayanapura, and Yelahanka, and is expected to be completed in three-and-a-half months,” he added.

He said work was held up due to a delay in sanctioning of funds. “Now that funds have been sanctioned and work orders given, we are hoping to finish the cementing of drains by the end of the year,” he added.

However, the date of completion of the project is April 2018. “Work on vulnerable parts of the drain network will be completed in two months,” Mr. Siddegowda said. In Kodichikkanahalli, which faced the brunt of flooding last year, the drain has been left open near the opening to the lake. As a result, waste is being dumped into the drain, which ends up in the lake. “The place has become a littering spot, and there is a lot of stench and mosquitoes,” said Meena Balu, a resident.

Another complaint is the slow pace of work.

“Work on a SWD next to a mall in Malleswaram has been going on for several months now. Every once in a while, work is re-started and the drain is left open only to be closed a few days later,” said a resident of Malleswaram.

 
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