Cracking down on business establishments that have not obtained trade licences, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials closed 407 shops in the Majestic area on Saturday.
Several shops in Burma Bazaar, Hong Kong Bazaar, Bangkok Bazaar, Mahaveer Plaza part 1 and 2, Sukh Sagar Complex and National Market were sealed between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
According to BBMP officials, the shops were allowed to open only after the owners paid the licence fee. The civic body collected Rs. 4.56 lakh from the traders.
Although there are over six lakh traders with VAT licence in the area, only 56,000 had trade licences.
BBMP’s Joint Commissioner (Health) K.T. Yatish Kumar told The Hindu that these businesses were coming under the BBMP tax net for the first time.
“February is usually when the trade licences come up for renewal. We want to bring more such traders into the BBMP’s tax net and such drives will continue,” he said.
Online systemTo ensure that more traders are brought under the BBMP’s tax net, Dr. Kumar said the civic body was working on introducing an online system for application and renewal of trade licence. “The system will be launched in another 10 days,” he said.
‘No notice given’Traders, however, were a disgruntled lot. They complained that they were not given notice and BBMP officials had shut down the market on the busiest day.
“This drive could have been conducted on a weekday. How are we going to make up for the loss?” asked M. Raju Rao, who has a mobile phone and accessories shop in Hong Kong Bazaar.
Confusion prevailsKamlesh Gulecha, who owns a garment shop at Mahaveer Plaza part 2 said there was a lot of confusion. “After we paid the licence fee, they gave us application forms for the trade licence. They gave us an acknowledgement of receiving the money on a piece of paper; we did not even get a proper receipt,” he said.
