Cabinet approves reduction in annual 'special fire fees' to aid small and medium enterprises

Kolkata: The state Cabinet on Monday approved reduction of the annual 'special fire fees' to make it affordable for businessmen, particularly from the small and medium enterprises.

"We have decided to cut down the fees so that the small and medium scale businessmen do not face difficulty in coughing up the fire fees.

The Fire and Emergency Services department is not a revenue earning department. The fees in certain cases were exorbitant and so many businessmen were not registering. Now, more and more businessmen will register and we will have a database of those buildings. The fees have been made reasonable and brought within the limits of the common people," state Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra said after the Cabinet meeting on Monday.

The state has received several appeals from businessmen, particularly those in small and medium scale enterprises, regarding their difficulty in coughing up the fees.

According to the minister, the fee reduction has been decided with respect to four broad categories. "In the case of residential buildings

above 14.5 metres including dharmasalas, educational institutions, art galleries, libraries and residential complexes, the special fees was Rs 43.5 per sq metre. The state government has now decided to bring it down to Rs 4.35 per sq metre," Mitra said.

In the second category that includes hospitals, nursing homes, research centres, telephone exchanges, hotels upto three star, restaurants without bars and guest houses, the fees was Rs 80.7 per sq metre, which has been reduced to Rs 6.52 per sq metre.

In the case of airports, shopping malls, shopping complexes, cineplexes, cinema halls, hotels, restaurants

with bars, underground structures and covered car parkings, the fee was as high as Rs 107.6 per sq metre, which has now been reduced to Rs 8.7 per sq metre.

The maximum reduction has been in the category of most hazardous buildings like godowns, warehouses, storage of explosives, petrochemical and oil refinery, where the fees has been reduced from Rs 161.4 per sq metre to Rs 13.5 per sq metre.

The minister is optimistic that with the reduction in fees, people will be encouraged to register and the Fire department will have a detailed

database of details of the building structures, which would come handy in extinguishing fires, if any.