Karnataka - Shimoga

Decision on upgrading Shimoga CMC in June

SHIMOGA: Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development Suresh Kumar said on Friday that a proposal to upgrade the Shimoga City Municipal Council as a corporation was under the consideration of the Government and a decision might be taken in June.

Addressing presspersons here, he said that a proposal to upgrade Tumkur City Municipal Council as a corporation was also under Government’s consideration.

He denied that the Government had starved the civic bodies of development grant. “What is being noticed is lack of utilisation of funds allotted to them,” he said and added that the Government had taken the matter seriously.

He said the Government had asked civic bodies to prepare action plans and spend funds according to the guidelines. It was proposed to sanction the annual grant of Rs. 100 crore to each corporation.

Mr. Suresh Kumar said that there was no confusion as far as the self-assessment scheme was concerned. Instructions had been given to officials to hold ward-wise meetings on conducting property tax adalats in the form of a movement. It appeared that the officials were not interested in generating revenue from various sources.

He asserted that the self assessment scheme was taxpayer-friendly and it would be a success if people believed that they too were part of the administration. The role of tax officials should not be restricted to explaining about tax arrears, he said.

Mr. Suresh Kumar said that inter-corporation transfer of officials was being mooted to tone up administration as it had been found that their long stay in a particular corporation was not in the interests of development of corporations.

He said that a proposal in this regard was being examined to make it a legally foolproof. He hinted that such transfers would be applicable to city municipal councils also if they were found useful in city corporations, he added.

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