MUMBAI, November 18: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) proposal for a severe hike in civic taxes was unanimously rejected by the standing committee today. The Congress staged a walk-out half-way through the discussions, blaming the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance for mounting deficits.

However, the corporators agreed to help the administration generate greater revenue from octroi. Batches of four corporators, each led by an additional municipal commissioner and the mayor, will visit octroi posts and evolve a scheme to ensure better revenue generation.

The corporators also agreed to Gokhale's suggestion to impose a daily fee on unlicensed hawkers in the city. While there are 12,000 licensed hawkers in Mumbai, the BMC collects a daily fee from 20,000 hawkers. About 80,000 hawkers do not pay anything to the corporation.

To garner an additional Rs 174.75 crore for BMC, Gokhale had sought the revision of general tax from the existing 26 per cent to 46 per cent, of education cess from 8.5 to 12 per cent and street tax from 5 to 10 per cent.

The BMC faces a hefty deficit of Rs 373 crore by the end of the current financial year, and according to Gokhale, the upward revision in taxes was his last resort to save BMC from an insurmountable financial crisis.

As soon as the proposal was taken up for discussion, senior Congress corporator K A Bastiwala moved an amendment motion seeking its rejection. Blaming the BMC administration for the current financial mess, Bastiwala said, ``The mounting deficit and losses are a result of the administration's own inefficiency, and BMC had no right to pass the burden on to citizens.''

While all corporators, cutting across party lines, supported the amendment, Congress blamed the ruling alliance for the financial problems. Saying that the financial crisis reflected the character of the ruling combine, Ravindra Pawar tore a copy of the proposal and, hurling it towards committee chairman Sardar Tarasingh, led his party corporators out of the hall.

The amendment was later passed unanimously by Sena-BJP corporators, ironically in the absence of Congress.

Rajesh Sharma of the BJP lambasted the officials for the depleting revenue from octroi, the main source of revenue for the BMC. ``If proper vigilance is maintained at the four octroi posts in the city, the entire deficit of Rs 373 crore could be wiped off within one year,'' he maintained.

Criticising Gokhale for purchasing an expensive official car, Congress corporator Vidyarthi Singh said, ``The municipal commissioner should remember that charity begins at home. The better thing would be to lock up the BMC headquarters. At least that will ensure a big saving on the establishment costs.''

Referring to a circular issued by Gokhale to all ward officers and heads of departments to curtail expenditure by 20 per cent in all possible avenues, independent corporator Niyaz Ahmed Vanu said, ``73 per cent of BMC expenses are made on establishment costs, and if the allocated funds are cut by 20 per cent, there will be no money left to run civic services.'' Congress' Balwant Pawar alleged that over 50 per cent of the budgetary allocations made to ward offices to carry out petty works contracts were misappropriated by corrupt officials.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.