BBMP proposes to cover more business establishments under ambit of trade licence

Proposal pending with Urban Development Department; 70 trades are covered at present

The city, over the past many years, has been witness to rampant commercialisation and mushrooming of illegal commercial establishments. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been making attempts to not just issue more trade licences to the 70 different trades currently under its ambit, but also to cover more trades.

To increase number to 85

A proposal to increase the number of trades to 85 had been sent to the State government earlier this year, confirmed senior officials.

From simplifying the process to apply for and renew trade licences, in line with the regulatory procedures under Ease of Doing Business, to completely taking the whole process online by removing all human touch points, the civic body hoped more people would apply for trade licences. However, even civic officials admit that they have barely scratched the surface, what with just around 55,000 trade licences being issued year after year. The BBMP collects between ₹45 crore and ₹50 crore after issuing these trade licences.

It was to increase revenue and plug leakage, apart from monitor commercialisation, that the BBMP has proposed to bring more trades under its ambit. Senior officials said after the proposal was sent, the government sought a justification for the same. Health officials said a report on the same, which was approved by the Standing Committee for Health and later by the council, was sent to the government.

“However, with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the proposal is still pending and no decision has been taken. If approved by the government, more trades will be covered, which will bring in more revenue to the cash strapped BBMP,” an official said.

Data collected

BBMP’s Chief Health Officer (Public Health) Dr. Vijayendra told The Hindu that the civic body had already collected data on commercial connections from Bescom, which has around 5.30 lakh such connections in BBMP area. After applying a filter (same name and address), around 3.63 lakh connections were remaining.

He said commercial establishments in industrial areas, Special Economic Zones and tech parks do not require BBMP’s trade licence, while small-scale industries under the Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association are also exempt. “Among the remaining connections were lawyers’ offices, tax consultants etc. The BBMP will have to further filter data and issue licences to trades that a direct bearing on public health,” he added.