MCB to act against coaching centres,PGs

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 30

The Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) is all set to initiate action against 58 educational institutes operational in residential areas such as Ajit road and 100 feet road in the city.

The MCB today called a meeting of owners of these institutes but only two of them attended it. They said they were not running any big commercial activity.

Following this, the MCB made a plan to take action against these institutes, which earn huge money.

The MCB will also take legal opinion over action against the institutes.

It is finalised that the MCB would recover commercial tax, along with penalty, from the educational institutes and paying guest house owners.

The MCB will constitute a team, which will conduct a survey in these areas and get information regarding the tax they have paid so far.

XEN Sandeep Gupta said they had called owners 50 educational institutes but only two came for the meeting. So, it has been decided to initiate action against them, he added.

These institutes are paying residential tax to the MCB in place of commercial tax.

A resident of the Ajit road area had lodged a written complaint with the MCB Commissioner, along with details, that many educational institutes and paying guest houses were being run in residential areas by paying residential tax to the MCB. They have not even paid any CLU, he added.

Over the past years, the city has developed as a hub of coaching institutes.

Students from other cities and towns look for accommodation near such coaching centres.

It has also raised the demand for paying guest houses.

Some Ajit road buildings house more than one coaching centres, either being run by the same owner or by different persons on sub-let basis.

Some of these coaching centres are being run at houses to evade tax, which the commercial use of a building entails.

The owners don’t even put up a board outside the house and rely on word of mouth.