The Hindu : Karnataka / Madikeri News : Surplus budget for Madikeri municipality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 06, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Madikeri

Surplus budget for Madikeri municipality

By Our Staff Correspondent

MADIKERI, JUNE 5. Kaveramma Somanna, municipal president, on Saturday, presented a Rs. 10.34-lakh surplus budget for 2004-05 amid demand from the Opposition members and a few ruling Congress members not to allocate money for the work on a subway and an indoor stadium in the city.

While the receipts were put at Rs. 8.63 crore, the expenditure was Rs. 8.52 crore. A sum of Rs. 1.26 crore is expected in property tax, 20 lakh each from rents on municipal buildings and water tax, Rs. 3.85 lakh in licence fees on enterprises, Rs. 2.4 lakh from the auction of fish stalls, Rs. 2.1 lakh in licences fee on buildings and others, and Rs. 2.25 lakh from the auction of other stalls.

Some of the main estimated expenditures are Rs. 22.68 lakh for implementing plans under the 18 per cent grant, Rs. 22 lakh for the construction of municipal buildings, Rs. 15 lakh each for road maintenance, drainages and construction of stalls inside the market yard, Rs. 13 lakh for water supply, Rs. 6 lakh for street lighting, Rs. 4 lakh for seating arrangements in Cauvery Kalakshetra, and Rs. 3 lakh for the repairs of municipal schools.

A sum of Rs. 24.64 crore is expected from the Government, which includes a Rs. 22-crore grant under the Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns scheme for the work on a market yard, Rs. 92.69 lakh as salary grants, Rs. 37 lakh for the payment of power bills, Rs. 60 lakh under the Nirmala Nagara Yojana, and Rs. 75 lakh as grants for the construction of a building for the municipality.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Shajeel Krishnan, objected to the provision of Rs. 15 lakh each for the subway from Junior College Road to the KSRTC bus station and the work on an indoor stadium. He was joined by the party councillors, K.S. Ramesh and Monty Ganesh, who demanded that funds be allocated to take up routine works in the wards.

Siraj Jaffrey, Congress member, agreed to their demands, but said it was equally important to develop infrastructure in the city. The services provided by the municipality to the citizens who paid taxes regularly were not adequate.

Referring to the Rs. 1.26 crore expected in property tax, Mr. Krishnan asked Ms. Kaveramma how much was collected under the self-assessment scheme for it in the previous year.

Rangaswamy, Municipal Commissioner, said only 51 per cent of the 7,000 taxable properties had been assessed last year. The tax collected was Rs. 45 lakh.

Abdul Razak of the Congress stated that the municipal officials had failed to collect rents in the previous year. Mr. Rangaswamy said the rent arrears totalled about Rs. 10 lakh.

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