LMC committee to check house tax system
Lucknow- Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma directed the corporation officials to form a committee in order to bring in transparency in the house tax assessment system and applicable interests on them.
The decision came in following the complaints lodged by corporators about residents being overcharged and being compelled to pay compound interest during collection of taxes.
At the annual budget meeting of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation members, the corporators discussed about the poor progress in bringing in all residential and commercial units under the tax net. They also questioned the inability of the civic authority to restore land encroached. The municipal commissioner alleged that the officials had been able to cover almost 70 percent of units under house tax in Lucknow.
Many corporators claimed that their wards were not being cleaned regularly by LMC workers. The zonal officers rarely visit the wards and are unavailable even on phone, they alleged. They complained that for past many years, their wards had not received any development funds from LMC.
The commissioner said that due to shortage of workforce, the corporation failed to cater proper service. Presently, there are only 5,300 workers in LMC and around 3000 more workers are required to attend each ward. Shortage of funds is another reason for the corporation to selectively carrying out development in wards in a phased manner and giving top priority to most underdeveloped and poor wards this time, he added.
The civic body is looking for a provisional income of Rs 1,126 crore for the current fiscal, which is around Rs 100 crore more than previous year’s estimation. With the strict regularisation of outdoor advertisements in the past one year, it has drawn Rs 3.24 crore as compared to the previous year’s Rs 2.28 crore. It has set a target of Rs 8 crore to be achieved as advertisement tax in this fiscal.
LMC has proposed to increase the advertising taxes in V.I.P. areas from the old rate of Rs 100 per sq ft per year to the present Rs 2,000 per square metre per year. Tax rates in localities falling under category A would be raised from Rs 60 per sq ft to Rs 1,200 per square metre per year. Similarly, taxes would be increased in areas falling within category B and C (in residential colonies) from Rs 50 to Rs 1000 and from Rs 40 to Rs 800 per square metre per year, respectively.
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Corporators, house tax assessment system, LMC workers, Lucknow, Lucknow corporation officials, Lucknow Mayor, Lucknow Municipal Corporation, Residential colonies, Residential units, Shortage of funds
