Generated 35% of our own funds in a yr: Siliguri Mayor

Siliguri: For the very first time the Trinamool Congress led board of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has released a ‘Report Card’ on the performance of the board in the last year from February 2022 to February 2023.

“Within one year, we have developed our own fund generation system on the way forward to the goal of self sustainability. We have generated 35 per cent of our own funds, which is a record. We have decreased the mutation fees. Commercial tax has been decreased from two per cent to one per cent. Residential tax has been decreased from two per cent to 0.5 per cent. We have waived off domestic water tax. These are our significant achievements that the past board could not do in years,” stated Gautam Deb, Mayor, SMC.

SMC sources said that the report card that was released in English on Thursday will be released in Bengali on the day of Bengali new year. The report card will also be released in Hindi and Nepali. The cards will be sent to all government offices here and to the concerned department in Kolkata. The cards will also be distributed to all the five borough offices under SMC and will also be uploaded on the official website of SMC. “Keeping in mind the Madhyamik examination we have shortened our programme. We took out a small procession without any microphone. After that we held a programme, indoors in the SMC office premises. With this report card we have tried to place our work and achievement to the masses. Now, the public will decide whether we were able to live up to their expectations or not,” Deb added.

The day was also marked by a rally from Baghajatin Park to the SMC office. Mayor Gautam Deb, along with Deputy Mayor Ranjan Sarkar, Chairman, and SMC Commissioners participated in the procession.After the procession the Mayor released the Report Card in a function at the SMC office.