KMC not to renew trade license of amusement fees defaulters

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will not renew the trade licence of an organisation, which has not cleared amusement fees.

The civic body will take legal recourse against such defaulters. The move comes as a number of organisations have not cleared their amusement tax. "There is a tendency among some companies to take things lightly when it comes to payment of amusement tax. There have been instances when some of them have completely ignored the fact that they need to pay such fees to the civic body for holding functions in banquet halls, hotels or restaurants or amusement parks. We have taken a serious note of the matter and decided to act tough against defaulting organisations," said Atin Ghosh, Member Board of Administrators KMC, in-charge of the Amusement department of KMC.

After carefully examining the legal provisions, Ghosh will soon hold a meeting with officials of amusement, licence and law departments to prepare a road map on the issue."Our priority is to provide the best of civic amenities. Amusement tax is a major component of our tax collection. So, proper mopping up of amusement tax is of utmost importance," a senior KMC official said.

The Chief Manager (Amusement) or Chief Manager (Health) has been leading night drives in the city to keep a track of such defaulters at the ground level and take measures to speed up collection of such tax.