The Hindu 23.02.2013
Property tax to go up in State
It is being revised after 17 years: K.C. Joseph.
Citizens would soon have to pay local bodies a higher
levy on the land and buildings they own, Minister for Rural Development
K.C. Joseph said here on Friday.
Briefing newspersons
on policy matters related to local development after a meeting of the
State Development Council here, Mr. Joseph said revision in property tax
was being proposed after 17 years.
The State would
fix the revised rate after consulting the Law Department and it would be
enhanced by at least one per cent every year.
Such
periodic revision would help local bodies augment their “own fund”
collection. The government would allow the public “some relaxation” in
paying their property tax dues, he said..
He said the
government had “in-principle” agreed to a suggestion to permit local
bodies to pay up to 50 per cent of the fair price value (FPV) for land
they wished to acquire to set up modern abattoirs and crematoriums. As
of now, they could only pay up to 30 per cent of the FPV for land
acquisition.
The government would accord up to 90 per cent subsidy to set up compost and biogas plants in households and community levels.
He
said “local-level opposition” had seriously undermined the efforts of
local self-government institutions to establish modern abattoirs and
crematoriums.
Local bodies had submitted scores of
proposals to set up such facilities, but there have been no takers to
implement the projects owing to neighbourhood-level resistance. Hence,
the government would set up efficient cold chain backed abattoirs at a
centralised level in all districts.
The Minister said
State-approved contractors appeared reluctant to take up
Centrally-assisted road development projects owing to delay on the part
of Union government engineers in carrying out quality checks.
The
Union government also insisted that the contractors give a 5-year
guarantee for the roads they repaired as a pre-condition for payment of
work bills.
Hence, the State government would release
Central funds for such projects to tide over the impasse. He said the
decision did not entail dilution of Central norms formulated to check
shoddy work by Government contractors.
The government
would meet the demand of several panchayats to hand over to them local
roads, currently maintained by the Public Works Department.
Education
Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb would call a meeting of local bodies to ensure
better utilisation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan funds earmarked for improving
elementary education in the country, he said. Collectors, MPs, and MLAs
will hold a meeting to improve the utilisation of funds set apart for
development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Plan
funds will be better utilised in the next financial year and the
development would be “evident at the ground level,” he said adding that
projects for the next year would be approved in March and the government
would use specialised computer software to monitor fund utilisation
from now on.
The software would help the Government
give incentives to panchayats based on their performance. The Government
would be able to accurately gauge the performance of local bodies by
verifying the time taken to execute schemes after the original projects
were approved, among other parameters.
