Trade Licence Fee: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Suffers Rs 53 Cr Loss In 7 Years

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has reportedly suffered a loss of Rs 53 crore in last seven years as the process of collecting trade license fees has not yet been systematised. The money could not be collected even after a survey of the number of street vendors.

According to sources, the trade licence has not been revised since 2006. The BMC had written to the state government way back in 2012 with a plea to amend the by-law governing trade licence fees. Though ten years have elapsed since then, it is yet to be approved. When amended, it will help in generating a revenue of around Rs 10 crore per year.

Meanwhile, the BMC has not been collecting tax from street vendors in terms of trade licence due to lack of staff and this is leading to a loss of Rs 7 crore every year.

Sources further said that the BMC spent Rs 60 lakh in conducting a survey through an outsourcing agency on the number of vendors in Bhubaneswar in 2015. According to the report submitted after six months of survey, there were 21,000 vendors in 67 wards of BMC.

Following this, it was decided that each vendor would be charged Rs 10 per day. But it has been alleged that not a singly penny has been collected till now.

It is pertinent to mention here that a Town Vending Committee of 11 members was formed by BMC in June. Along with Bhubaneswar DCP, BMC Planner, Khurda District Lead Bank Manager, Corporator of Ward No. 12, Kalinga Nagar Residential Association President, Unit-1 Market Traders Association President, NGO CFR Member, IRC Gajalakshmi Vending Zone Member, Unit-9 Gajalakshmi Vending Zone Member , CRP Gajalakshmi Vending Zone Member, and a member of Smart Janpath were a part of the committee.

It has also been alleged that some anti-social elements have been collecting ‘tax’ from street vendors, but the money was not being received by the BMC. In order to streamline the system, the civic body now plans to outsource the process of trade license fee collection, sources added.