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Covid impact: PCB suffers Rs11.52 crore revenue loss
The cantonment is hit with its worst financial crisis in the past three years.
The Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has reported a loss of Rs 11.52 crore in revenue starting from lockdown 1.0 to the current lockdown. The PCB is hit with the worst financial crisis in the past three years and is now facing another major shortfall of revenue generation in three major categories comprising property tax, Vehicle Entry Tax (VET) and pay and park fees during the lockdown.
This total sum of revenue loss has been reported at an aggregate of Rs 11.52 crore.
According to the data provided by PCB chief executive office, the PCB generated a revenue shortfall of Rs 5 crore in VET from April to June. Similarly, the PCB recorded a loss of Rs 29 lakh in terms of pay and park fees.
Also, the revenue from the Chhatrapati Shivaji market has gone down by Rs 5 lakh. Another major revenue loss of Rs 6.18 crore has been reported from the property tax collection department.
PCB chief executive officer Amit Kumar said that the losses have been calculated chiefly related to VET, pay and park scheme and property tax earnings of the cantonment board.
“The PCB has sustained serious losses during the three month lockdown period. We are not getting shop rent from our market, and property tax. We are losing additional revenue of Rs 20 lakh from hoarding advertisements. We have sustained these losses and the requisite income has not been generated. The Covid-19 crisis has also put an additional Covid expenditure on the board budget. We are already on a very tight budget and these losses are compounding our problems further,” Kumar said.
The development projects estimated to be worth Rs 200 crore have been hit as the PCB has not received its share of goods and service tax (GST) funds from the state government since July 2017.
Neither the state government nor the central government has taken up the PCB-GST issue despite the ongoing Covid crisis wreaking havoc on the cantonment board’s finances. Through the available reserve funds, the PCB can pay salaries to its employees.
The developmental projects that have been hit include a state of the art commercial complex at Dhobi ghat, construction of staff quarters, construction of a multi-level parking facility, remodelling and sewage improvement project, replacement of water supply lines, construction of road and drainage, beautification of gardens and some new developmental initiatives needed to enhance the civic infrastructure of the cantonment area.
