Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Corporation grappling with low revenue collection

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI MAY 31. While the Chennai Corporation faces an uphill task in city improvement activities in the face of dwindling finances, the strain on its exchequer is largely owing to lacklustre revenue collection, according to a section of councillors and officials.

Over the years, the investments made by the civic body towards construction of commercial complexes, marriage halls and vegetable markets have yielded low revenue as the civic body has never concentrated in the "non-tax revenue" category, they alleged. Demand-regulated planning was virtually absent and such ventures were mostly dictated by local politicians, they said.

"The policymakers (the ruling party during each term) hardly have any respect for public money. They think they are beyond accountability. A vegetable market on Vinayagampet Street at Saidapet (division 136) constructed at a cost of Rs. 47 lakhs lies in disuse, even though it was inaugurated by the then Mayor, M.K. Stalin, in September 11, 1998," said Saidai P. Ravi, Congress councillor representing division 137.

Even at the rate of Rs. 7 per square foot per month, the rental for 115 vegetable and 21 fish and meat stalls amounted to over Rs. 3 lakhs. The Land and Estates department and the zonal office were refusing to take responsibilities for allotment, Mr. Ravi said.

Similarly, the 5,400-odd shops owned by the civic body all over the city, have been earning Rs. 8 lakhs annually from rentals. However, officials acknowledged that at any given point of time, at least 20 per cent of the shops were unoccupied. For instance, the second floor of a complex at Panagal Park has been unoccupied for a long time, an official hinted.

Two community halls constructed at Kosapet and Shenoy Nagar have been lying disused for years. The one at Kosapet (Venkatadri Naicken Street, division 97) was constructed at a cost of Rs. 75 lakhs in 1999, but has never been used for the purpose for which it was built. The hall at Shenoy Nagar (Gajalakshmi Colony near Thiru Vi Ka Park, division 68) has a similar story. Though constructed four years ago, the hall was yet to host its first event. Recently, tenders were called for some additional works worth Rs. 9 lakhs. The Corporation has failed to ensure total occupation of the Moore Market complex. While it has spent nearly Rs. 1 crore towards its construction, the returns have been virtually nil. Out of the 850 shops, 466 have been allotted to the erstwhile occupiers and 130 to other allottees. Ideally, the Corporation would have raked in Rs. 1.5 crores annually, if all the shops were occupied.

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