Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

10,000 more need to take D&O trade licence

VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has taken up a comprehensive field survey of traders, business persons and commercial establishments who have not taken Dangerous and Offensive (D&O) trade licences.

The Corporation opted for the survey of the individuals who have not taken the trade licence, after considering the possibility of cross-checking the data pertaining to the licences issued so far with the list of commercial connections provided by the AP Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL).

The VMC officials, for various reasons, found that comparison of both the data was practically not possible.

They also felt that the sample survey was also not “feasible”. For instance, the VMC found that some traders, commercial and business establishments had somehow “managed” to get two to three commercial connections though the user was only one. Traders and businessmen, probably, found it to be a good alternative to paying huge power bills, as tariff goes up considerably with an increase in power consumption. In effect, it would mean that there may be ten commercial connections in a complex, but the users would only be five or six, officials explain.

The officials earlier thought of hiring a consultancy for a complete survey, if the results of the sample survey of 3,000 commercial connections were encouraging. Resultantly, sanitary inspectors were entrusted with the job of completing the survey.

When the survey was launched two months ago, the Corporation issued nearly 25,000 D&O trade licences under various categories. It proposed to issue licences for more than 900 types of trades and businesses in the city. The officials estimated that another 17,000 individuals would have to take D&O trade licences in the city.

“We found that about 6,000 people have not obtained the licences. We are expecting that the number would cross 10,000 when the total survey is completed,” says M. Satyanarayana Raju, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH). The survey was completed in divisions that are relatively smaller in the city. It will be completed by the end of December.

The officials contemplate generating additional revenue of Rs. 1 crore through D&O trade licences during the current financial year.

These trade licences now fetch nearly Rs. 2 crore a year to the VMC. D&O trade licence fee is one of the major non-tax revenues for the Corporation, in addition to revenue accruing on water supply, under ground drainage charges, births and death certificate fee and income from town planning section.

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