Palike trails in meeting revenue target

The civic body, in its much-delayed budget, had set a target to mop up a revenue of Rs 8446.96 crore under 28 heads of accounts while the payments were put at Rs 8,862.03 crore. However, eight months into the present fiscal, the collection stands at Rs 1,444.87 crore, just 17.1 per cent of the target, whereas the payments have reached Rs 1,926.18 crore, 21.73 per cent of that proposed in the budget. The deficit between the receipts and payments stands at Rs 485.31 crore.

High expectations

The departments from which the Palike had high expectations seem to have underperformed. Only a sum of Rs 58.93 crore has been realised so far from the Town Planning Department as against the targetted revenue of Rs 1,016.4 crore.

Health Department too has lagged behind; a mere Rs 4.13 crore against the goal of Rs 191.15 crore.

The receipts from Advertisement Department are neither enthusiastic; Rs 2.91 crore against a goal of Rs 120 crore. The Revenue department hasn’t stood for its name by raking in only Rs 620.38 crore against the target of Rs 2,414.7 crore.

The Engineering Department (Solid Waste Management) was expected to rake in Rs 151.43 crore but remained way behind at Rs 85.22 lakh.

However, the only glimmer of hope is the Estate and Asset Management Department. It has surpassed the target of Rs 1.05 crore by accumulating Rs 3.02 crore so far.

Releasing the statistics to the media, leader of the Opposition in the Council, M Nagaraj, said wrong financial foundation of the Palike may lead to its bankruptcy.

Special grants

However, Finance and Tax Committee chairperson P N Sadashiva said the Palike got Rs 1,500 crore from HUDCO and Rs 480 crore as Special Grants of the Finance Commission.

He said the revenue through advertisements would go up after the Palike starts the renewal of advertisements.

"Last year the revenue from advertisements was Rs 37 crore and it would go up this time. Similarly, we would get another Rs 150 crore from betterment charges, which we approved in the recent Council meeting," said Sadashiva.