Town planning wing exceeds revenue target but other MC departments lax

Tribune News Service

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, March 28

Except for the Municipal Town Planning (MTP) wing, all the MC departments are far from achieving their revenue targets. The financial year 2022-23 is going to end on March 31. Though senior MC officials had issued instructions to all the department heads to achieve their respective targets, not much was witnessed in most cases.

As per the information, except for the MTP department, all others are proving to be lax in achieving the target.

The MC had set a target of recovering Rs 2.50 crore for the tehbazari and street vending wing from the Estate Department. Of this, the department has recovered only Rs 80 lakh. The Estate Department has recovered only Rs 1.20 crore against the target of Rs 10 crore from the sale of MC properties. In the licence branch, the target was to recover Rs 90 lakh but the department has achieved only Rs 55 lakh. The MC had targeted to earn Rs 2.5 crore from the rented properties but achieved only Rs 90 lakh. The Health Department was given a target of Rs 2 crore for the recovery of conservancy charges but the department has been able to recover only Rs 80 lakh.

The property tax department was earlier given a target of recovering Rs 36 crore but only Rs 31 crore has been recovered. MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi had increased the target of property tax to Rs 50 crore but the property tax wing is far away from achieving the target and is expecting to recover just Rs 35 crore till the end of fiscal. The MTP department has collected Rs 42 crore by meeting the target of Rs 31 crore. The Water Supply and Sewerage Department has also crossed the target of Rs 8.50 crore and collected Rs 10.50 crore. On the other hand, the advertising department was given a target of Rs 10 crore. Out of this, Rs 9 crore has been recovered.

“The budget for 2023-24 will be presented after the municipal elections. The MC has to increase its revenue to fulfill the demands of residents and for payment of salaries and pension to its staff. For better services, the MC needed more funds which would come from taxes, bills, fee and rent,” said a former councillor.