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More powers for Puducherry local bodies soon

PUDUCHERRY: After initiating steps to devolve powers to village and commune panchayats, the government was in the process of giving additional powers to the municipalities in the Union Territory.

Sources in the government told The Hindu that administrative process to devolve more powers to the municipalities had been taken up.

Local Administration Department had submitted the proposal to the Cabinet for clearance, they said.

As per Constitutional requirement, 18 subjects concerning urban areas were to be handed over to the municipalities.

Ten subjects had been devolved and the remaining would be handed over to the local bodies.

The subjects included town planning, land use pattern, urban poverty alleviation and public health, the officials said.

“A decision to devolve powers to the municipalities will be taken very shortly,” a senior official said.

So as to augment the financial position of the civic bodies, instructions had been given to collect all property tax arrears before the end of March.

The data available with the Local Administration Department showed that the Puducherry and Oulgaret Municipalities alone had to collect arrears to the tune of Rs. 9 crore.

Likewise, each of the 10 commune panchayats had to collect between Rs. 30 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh as property tax, officials in the Local Administration Department said.

An intensive ward-wise property tax collection drive would be conducted from this month, they said.

Following this, a special drive would be conducted for collecting professional tax and renewing trade licences.

Similarly, the government was in the process of regularising the functioning of around 500 shops in the town.

The department had assessed that around 400 shops were functioning illegally and the government was losing huge revenue from the sector.

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