Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) annual budget has crossed Rs 12,500 crore, its actual revenue generation continues to decline, which is raising serious concerns over the civic body’s financial health. For the past few years, income has consistently fallen short of estimates, prompting the administration to finally turn its attention to the long-neglected Revenue Enhancement Committee.
The committee, which was constituted in January 2020 to explore ways to boost the corporation’s income, had remained inactive for years. However, with the need for increased revenue becoming the PMC has recently held a meeting of the committee, focussing on strengthening its financial position.
Although the civic budget has crossed the Rs 10,000-crore mark in recent years, there remains a significant gap between projected and actual receipts and expenditure. The estimated budget deficit has crossed Rs 2,500 crore.
Additionally, after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), one of the PMC’s major revenue streams was transferred to the state government. As a result, property tax and construction development charges have emerged as the corporation’s primary sources of income.
The Revenue Enhancement Committee was constructed to examine ways to increase revenue from these two departments, identify hurdles in tax collection, and suggest corrective measures.
The committee includes senior officials from the property tax, building permission, and accounts departments, and is chaired at the level of an additional municipal commissioner. However, despite its mandate, the committee existed largely see on paper and failed to function effectively.
In the meantime, two key members of the committee former property tax chief Vilas Kanade and building department officer Amar Shinde retired, leaving important positions vacant. These posts have now been filled, with Deputy Commissioner of Tax Collection Ravi Pawar and building department official Jaywant Pawar being appointed to the committee.
With these new appointments, there is hope that the Revenue Enhancement Committee will become active once again and propose concrete measures to improve the PMC’s income and address its growing financial challenges.
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