As rumours around the Coimbatore Corporation’s financial strength fly thick and fast, officials familiar with the issue have quelled those saying the Corporation is not as bad as it is projected to be.
They said that after the Assembly elections in May this year, the Corporation had cleared bills over Rs. 60 crore and was in the process of paying the outstanding - over Rs. 30 crore - in the next few weeks. By this month end the civic body would have paid off its dues.
As in elections years in the past, this time too the Corporation had to take up more works to meet targets and that was the reason for delayed payments.
The Corporation was expecting money from a few funding agencies, which would release those once it submitted ‘utilisation certificate’ or certificate for work completion. It was also waiting for its regular quota of funds under various heads from the State Government such as the State Finance Commission funds.
Therefore, it was wrong to suggest that the Corporation was without funds or its coffers were empty to execute works. Likewise, it was also wrong to say that the Corporation did not even have money to pay salaries.
It would soon receive funds from the State Government for kick starting the Smart Cities scheme - Rs. 400 crore for schemes under the Amrut Scheme. As for salary, its outgo was around Rs. 9 crore a month and it had money to pay salary and also pension.
And, this had never been a problem, they added.
The Corporation was looking to boost its revenue by stepping up property tax collection. As of September 30 - end of the first half year - it had collected Rs. 47.79 crore. This was two per cent less than first half-year collection last year.
The Corporation was now focussed on collecting current year’s dues as well as old ones by identifying top defaulters.
