Around 1,000 mobile towers are installed across the city. The NMC
would earlier charge 1.10 lakh a year for one tower from the mobile
service providers as ground rent and other taxes. Finding it to be a
lucrative way to earn revenue, the civic administration revised the
annual rent to 3 lakh.

The decision came as a rude shock for
the service providers. “They (mobile phone companies) tried to negotiate
with the civic body to lower the rent. But when it turned out to be an
exercise in futility, they approached the court,” said NMC standing
committee chairman and senior BJP corporator Avinash Thakre.

“The court reprimanded the civic body and subsequently the price was brought down to 25,000 per annum,” he informed.

Now, the state government has issued new rates for B-grade civic bodies
like the NMC to charge only 25,000 per year from mobile service
providers towards ground rent for towers.

Criticizing NMC
outdoor advertising policy, Thakre said the civic officials should have
been content with 1.10 lakh per tower as it was helping the NMC in
generating revenue to the tune of 1.10 crore. But the greed to earn more
has proved costly for the NMC, he said, adding that now NMC will get
only 25 lakh.

Thakre pointed out that the NMC’s outdoor advertising policy is not also feasible to attract takers (traders).

Town planning department’s sectional engineer (NMC) Pandurang Shinde,
however, justified the NMC’s move to increase the ground rent. He said
the civic body needs revenue for providing basic infrastructure, so the
revision is justified.

According to him, the state government
has not finalized the rent. “In fact, the government had invited
suggestions and objections to its draft policy on mobile tower rents.
The NMC had raised objection to charging such minimal rent,” Shinde
said.