KMC bats for increasing green cover of Kolkata
Kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday placed the Budget of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for the financial year 2019-20, with an emphasis on increasing the green cover to curb pollution in the city.
"We are constantly striving to promote Urban Forestry in the city, with a sharp focus on large-scale forestry on available land to make the city greener. We have made it clear that buildings can only undergo vertical expansion, so that some space can be carved out from the surrounding area. Instead of making garages for cars, it could be used for urban forestry," the Mayor said.
Immediately after taking oath as the city's Mayor in December 2018, Hakim had announced that the civic body will be waiving upto 90 percent property tax, if somebody plants big trees on his/her land. The tax deduction will be on the basis of the land where the plantation programme gets taken up.
The Mayor said that the civic body is drawing up a master plan for the city. "The master plan will be a map with details of every structure- mainly bridges and flyovers. The name of the agency responsible for its construction will be clearly displayed on it to fix accountability. The master plan is being prepared in consultation with Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) and other concerned agencies," he added.
He also stressed upon the simplification of deposit of tax under Unit Area Assessment (UAA) system.
"We had introduced the UAA for collection of property tax but it has been observed that several citizens have still not been able to adjust to the method. We have sent officials to different states where this method prevails, to understand how it is being implemented there. I have also formed a committee comprising Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh and Debabrata Mazumder to address the issues relating to tax assessment. Our objective is to make the procedures of property tax assessment citizen-friendly, so that people feel encouraged to get their properties assessed and pay tax on time," the Mayor said.
