For a municipality that is the biggest revenue grosser in the State, Thrikkakara continues to languish among grade three municipalities.
More than four years after being upgraded from a panchayat, Thrikkakara has been waiting for an elevation befitting its attributes of a grade one municipality.
Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali’s recent statement in the Assembly about the government plan to upgrade municipalities has given Thrikkakara municipal authorities a ray of hope.
Municipalities are classified into four – municipal corporations, grade one, grade two and grade three – mostly based on population and revenue generation.
It is being pointed out that Thrikkakara should have long been elevated to grade one considering that it is the biggest professional tax collecting municipality in the State and second in property tax collection, just behind Kalamassery municipality.
“The single biggest advantage of a potential elevation would be the proportionate increase in staff strength. At present, the municipality has 37 staff members while 80 to 90 would be ideal for a municipality of its character and size,” Saju David, secretary of Thrikkakara municipality, told The Hindu .
This is likely to have an immediate impact on revenue collection.
For instance, property tax collection, which now stands at Rs. 3.50 crore may go up to Rs. 5 crore or even more.
Of the 37 staff members, only nine are in the municipality’s revenue department and, out of them, only three are bill collectors directly engaged in revenue mobilisation with section clerks and revenue inspectors making up the rest of the department.
Establishment, health, engineering, and town planning departments account for the rest of the workforce of the municipality.
The upgrade would also bestow the municipality with important posts such as revenue officer, health supervisor, and personal assistant to the secretary, whose services are now beyond the reach of the municipality.
Besides, the number of superintendents may also go up from one to three.
