Salt Lake amusement tax in offing

KOLKATA: Reeling under a resource crunch for years ever since the Supreme Court quashed its new property tax structure, Bidhannagar Municipality is now planning to collect some kind of amusement tax or charges from amusement parks and commercial establishments like Nalban and other such recreational centres in a desperate bid to mop up revenue.
Thus, part of the rent paid for holding social functions like weddings at the Nalban boating club, City Centre banquet hall and even on parks and community centres will go to the civic body."We are yet to decide on the amount of charge to be imposed. When finalized, these charges will be based on provisions of the Bengal Municipal Act," said municipality vice-chairman Sabyasachi Dutta. The matter was discussed at the last board of councillors meeting of the municipality.
As of now, those who want to take space in front of community halls for holding social
programmes pay some charge to respective block communities. The civic body, till date, has not collected any kind of amusement tax from places like Nalban or other such recreational centres.
Salt Lake residents, meanwhile, can soon expect to start receiving tax bills based on the old tax structure. The municipality is trying to start collecting property tax with effect from April 1, 2010. The amount taxed will range between Rs 70 and Rs 120 a quarter under the old structure based on the Bengal Municipal Act, 1977. This will fetch the municipality about Rs 90 lakh a quarter. The new Trinamool-run board's budget for the current fiscal projects a total income of Rs 52.93 crore. Of this, income from revenue has been shown as Rs 35.08 crore.
The municipality really needs to mop up revenue to implement its ambitious plans. It has lined up several pilot projects, such as improving water supply, preparing maps of sewerage and drainage lines, introducing a green police force, buying a hot-mix plant' for road repairs, replacing the present streetlights with solar-powered ones and developing eco-tourism.
The previous Left-run board did not work out a solution to the property tax dispute. Neither did it try to collect tax from other sources. Property tax apart, revenue from billboards and parking fees constitute another chunk of income for the municipality. And now, the civic authorities will be trying to earn as much of revenue from this extra amusement charges.
The civic body has to spend about Rs 1 crore a month to maintain basic civic amenities like garbage disposal, sweeping roads, maintaining water reservoirs and pumping stations apart from paying employees' salaries. Besides, it has to pay Rs 1 crore annually to KMC for the cost of water supply from Tallah.