From Jan, pay more for shop licences

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to increase fees for renewing hawking licences, displaying hoardings and advertising on signboards to tide over its cash crunch.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to increase fees for renewing hawking licences, displaying hoardings and advertising on signboards to tide over its cash crunch.

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The civic law committee has approved an increase of 80 to 100 per cent of hawking licence fees and an increase of 75 per cent of the fees to display hoardings. The committee has also cleared a hike of 75 per cent in charges to display advertisements on stall boards, signboards and rolling shutters. The new charges will be effective from January 2010.

The civic body, which gets its revenue mainly from octroi and property tax, among others, has said these taxes have reached their saturation points.

“Increasing hoarding and licence fees will add Rs 35 crore to the income,” said Ramakant Rahate chairman, civic law committee. He also said that the new charges would be cleared by the general body meeting this month.

Hawkers have been categorized into two groups. Hawkers in the island city [except Byculla] and some suburbs like Bandra (W), Andheri, Goregaon, Malad, Bhandup and Mulund are in Group A and those in the remaining eastern suburbs, Byculla, Bandra (E) and parts of Dahisar are in Group B. Group A will face a 100 hike in licence renewal fees while Group B will have to pay 75 per cent more.

The hike in charges for displaying hoardings will be between 50 and 400 per cent. Revenue from hawkers’

licence fees is expected to increase to Rs 5 crore from Rs 2.5 crore.