KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is soon going to allow the shopkeepers to renew their ‘Purdah License’, a practice that was prevalent decades back but became irrelevant over the years.
A shopkeeper from ward 42 called Mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday during the ‘Talk to Mayor’ session. The man complained that he has not been able to renew his ‘Purdah’ licence for the last two years. He requested KMC to help him renew it. The request apparently left the Mayor bamboozled as he admitted that he has never heard of such a licence in all his years of association with the KMC. The Mayor, however, assured that he will help him with the renewal. Hakim was informed by the officials that long back there was a system of ‘Purdah’ licence which shopkeepers used to apply for.
The ‘Purdah’ is a kind of shed attached to the shops situated on the footpath. After hearing this, the Mayor instructed that KMC officials should once again look into how to make this relevant again since this can bring some revenue to the civic body.
Mayor said that in earlier times there were sheds which the shopkeepers used to install for protection from rain or sun. “Air conditioners in shops were not a normal sight at that point of time. This is about 25 years back. Hence, for the installation of such sheds, the shopkeepers used to pay a licence fee,” he pointed out.
Asked if this fee will be made compulsory for all shopkeepers now in a bid to make it a stable source of revenue, Hakim clarified that for now, only the traders who are applying for renewal will be paying the fees. “We are not making this compulsory since traders anyway pay a trade licence for their shops. However, if we can streamline the collection process from ones who are ready to pay, then it will be an additional source of revenue for the KMC,” Hakim said.