Hyderabad
News: In less than a week after chief minister Y S
Rajasekhara Reddy assured the citizens of Greater
Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) that there
would be no new taxes, the stage is set to roll out a
one per cent fire tax (surcharge) on property tax.
A proposal to this effect has been sent by the fire
services department to the government recently.
Officials stumbled on a provision in the AP Fire
Services Act, 1999, whereby they can tax to provide
the necessary fire-fighting equipment.
Sources said the order is likely to be issued in a
week as the home department has forwarded the proposal
to the finance department a week ago. After the
finance department clears it, the municipal
administration department would instruct corporations
and municipalities across the state to collect the
cess.
The department hopes to raise Rs 10 crore per annum as
surcharge and wants to utilise it for procuring
sophisticated fire prevention equipment and
strengthening the department.
"As per section 36 of the AP Fire Services Act, 1999
and rule 35(C) of the Fire and Emergency Operations
and Levy of Fee Rules, 2004, the fire services
department can levy tax up to five per cent, but we
have decided to collect only one per cent,"a senior
functionary of the fire services department told 'TOI'
on Sunday.
The erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH)
had collected about Rs 210 crore towards property tax
in the 2006-07 fiscal, while surrounding
municipalities collected about Rs 60 crore. The
property tax collection in GHMC for the 2007-08 fiscal
is estimated to be about Rs 350 crore.
The tax would further burden citizens as the erstwhile
MCH and former surrounding municipalities had
completed the exercise to revise the existing property
tax.
Though the civic bodies wanted to implement the
revised property tax from April 2007, the municipal
administration department had put the decision on hold
keeping in view of elections in Greater Visakhapatnam,
Rajahmundry and Hindupur municipal corporation a
couple of months ago.
The Karnataka government has been collecting one per
cent fire cess on the Fire Precautionary Fund being
paid by builders for getting 'No Objection
Certificate' for construction of high-rise buildings.
But the state fire services department decided to
collect the fee from property tax payers.
The fire services department also sent a proposal to
the home department to have a separate legal cell
headed by a senior public prosecutor to deal with
cases pertaining to fire safety violations and
initiate prosecution proceedings against 'erring'
builders.
