With the shopkeepers at the Ooty Municipal Market refusing pay the revised rents imposed on them by the municipality, efforts are being taken to begin auctioning the shops.
Pricing factors
Speaking to The Hindu , V Prabhakaran, Health Officer and Commissioner (in-charge), Udhagamandalam Municipality, said that of the more than 1,500 shops that were paying rent to the municipality, only around 10 have agreed to pay the revised rates.
The new rates were arrived at by the municipality after studying a variety of pricing factors, such as the structural quality of the shops, their location within the market, and commercial rates of other private establishments.
It was expected that the new tariffs would bring in an additional Rs. 10 crore to the coffers of the municipality annually.
However, with the shopkeepers refusing to back down, rents have not been paid to the municipality since July of 2016.
Municipality officials said that because of this, salaries of UMC workers were being delayed, and that more than Rs. 10.4 crore owed to the revenue department, TANGEDCO and forest department remained unpaid.
“The workers will also get a salary increase in January of 2017, and our wage bill will increase substantially,” an official said. Many civic works, such as patchwork on roads were also being delayed because of the stand off, officials said.
Date
The municipality plans to announce the date of auction by the end of the week, and officials said that those shopkeepers not willing to pay the revised rates will not be allowed to take part in the auction.
Moreover, the municipality will deduct the rents owed since July from the deposit amounts submitted by the store owners.
