The Hindu          10.10.2014 

VMC chief for focus on STP work

Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) Commissioner C. Hari Kiran on Thursday instructed authorities to take up construction of Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) works on priority basis and complete them at the earliest.

The Corporation is constructing seven STP’s at Ramalingeshwar Nagar, Ajitsinghnagar, Jakkampudi and Autonagar in the city under JNNURM funds.

Depending on the Million litres of water per day (MLD) capacity, the cost of each STP varies and for one MLD, it costs about Rs. 75 lakh, authorities said.

Of the seven STP’s, already one STP at Ramalingeshwarnagar and Ajitsinghnagar are functioning, and works of other STPs are underway, they claimed.

Capacity

After inspecting the civic works at Ramalingeshwarnagar plants, which are equipped with 20 MLD and 10 MLD capacities, Mr. Hari Kiran instructed the authorities to construct 500-metre-high compound walls around the plants to safeguard them from floods in the future.

When he enquired about the delay in completing the compound wall construction works, authorities attributed the same to water logging of the pits at the site owing to high water table.

However, the Commissioner directed the engineering authorities to pump out water from the pits using motors, according to a press release.

He further wanted the authorities to install gates and locking system to prevent unauthorised persons from entering the STP premises.

March 15 deadline

The Corporation authorities are working on completing the STP works before March 15, failing which there are apprehensions that funds from JNNURM would be blocked.

The Times of India       09.10.2014  

Several commercial buildings under Gaya civic body scanner

GAYA: Marriage halls and other commercial buildings have come on the Gaya Municipal Corporation (GMC) radar for three different reasons including massive evasion of municipal tax and encroachment of public land. GMC officials on Tuesday raided several commercial buildings including a couple of marriage halls located near the Gaya circuit house.

According to municipal commissioner D S Ram Chandar, incidence of massive evasion of municipal tax has come to light during the Tuesday operation against the owners of commercial buildings. He told TOI that initially 50 big buildings spread over different wards of the GMC have been identified for thorough examination of the premises and documentation of violations of building construction laws and other rules.

According to Chandar, the evasion of municipal tax is simply mindboggling. In respect of one of the marriage halls raided by the municipal officials, it was found that as against a tax liability of about Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, only Rs 11,000 was being paid by the owner. Not only that, parking space of the hall has been converted into a kitchen and the municipal drain has been encroached upon. Asked about the follow up action, the municipal commissioner said the violators of the law will be adequately penalised. Besides the upward revision of the municipal tax of the commercial buildings in accordance with the real measurement, notices are being issued to the violators for encroachment removal.

Asked about the involvement of tax collectors and other GMC employees, Chandar admitted that quite a few of the tax collectors and other GMC employees are neck deep involved in malpractices. As of now, class IV employees of the municipal body are engaged in tax collection. He plans to give the tax collection job to class III employees of the municipal body.

On account of tax evasion and other leakages, the GMC is in the red, said Chandar. As against the establishment cost of about Rs 24 crore per annum, the revenue from the holding tax and other sources were a meagre Rs 7 crore per annum leaving the big gap of Rs 17 crore between income and expenditure. He was trying to double the corporation's tax revenue from the existing Rs 7 crore to Rs 14 crore, he said.