City budget promises to offer 19 services on-line

Rainwater harvesting to be made compulsory for buildings above 100 sq m area

S. Appi, chairperson, Standing Committee for Taxation, Finance and Appeals, presenting the budget for 2017-18 in Mangaluru on Tuesday.

The budget of the Mangaluru City Corporation for 2017-18 introduced on Tuesday has promised to offer 19 services on-line and make its offices paper-less from this April.

It said that rainwater harvesting would be made compulsory in buildings having above 100 sq m area. The budget has reserved ₹ 1 crore for harvesting rainwater in the main buildings of the corporation.

The corporation has kept aside ₹ 2 crore to develop the road between PVS Circle and Lady Hill as a smart road having a full-fledged footpath, drains and street-lights.

Though it did not impose any new taxes or cess, the corporation did not drop the three new cess proposals mentioned in the 2016-17 budget as the civic body did not introduce them in the current financial year.

S. Appi, chairperson, Standing Committee for Taxation, Finance and Appeals, who tabled the budget, said that the solid waste management cess while obtaining trade licence and renewing it, the underground drainage cess for those who used the drainage network of the corporation and underground cable cess for telecom operators would be imposed.

Though now Mayor Harinath, who headed the same committee during 2015-16, while presenting the budget for 2016-17, had referred about them, he did not introduce them as Mayor.

Ms. Appi said that the civic body expected annually ₹ 3.07 crore from cess on trade licences, ₹ 5 crore from underground drainage cess and ₹ 4 crore from underground cable cess.

Though she did not give details of the three cess proposals; according to the same proposals mentioned a year ago, those who used underground drainage facility of the corporation would have to pay ₹ 15 a month for residential buildings as underground drainage cess. It was ₹ 25 a month for non-residential buildings, ₹ 50 per month for commercial buildings, ₹ 100 a month for industrial buildings.

The earlier proposal said that telecom service providers would have to pay ₹ 50,000 cess per km for installing underground cable in the city. It was because many companies which were digging roads were damaging them.

Reviving old proposals, Ms. Appi said that the corporation would construct markets at Urwa, Kadri, Kankanady, Kavoor, Alape, Bikarnakatte, Krishnapura, Katipalla, Kaikamba and Surathkal.