The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) is now following a 'professional' approach in dealing with civic agencies. It is trying to work out a revenue-sharing model with the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG).
Huda has asked MCG to focus only on areas coming under the latter's
jurisdiction for outdoor advertisements. This is likely to bring in more revenue for the civic agency.
A tax department official in MCG confirmed that the civic agency has got a letter from Huda. It indeed restrains MCG from renting outdoor advertisement space in areas under Huda's control. According to the official, a tender of Rs. 17 crore was given to an outsourcing agency to grant permission to advertisers for displaying ads at 13 locations.
“We got a letter from Huda, saying we can't cash in on locations owned by it. But MCG's areas are mainly villages, while Huda controls all posh areas," said the MCG tax official.
The tussle over sharing revenue between the two agencies is not new. A similar drama on slicing the financial pie happened over transfer of Huda sectors to MCG.
“We will transfer the sectors to MCG and we will pay them the maintenance amount,” said Huda administrator Nitin Yadav. “Similarly, we expect MCG to share revenue when it makes money from our areas. So we asked them to get no-objection certificates from us while installing billboards at our areas. We are also discussing a revenue sharing model on this issue,” added Yadav.
On transfer of sectors to MCG, the corporation stated that it will be unprofitable to maintain the sectors without having the power to sell unused plots.
“But we can’t transfer ownership because it is against the law,” said a Huda executive engineer.