KOCHI: Mayor Tony Chammany has refuted the observations of the Fifth Finance Commission and claimed that the Kochi Corporation’s plan fund expenditure of 60 per cent was the highest in the state.
Finance Commission chairman B.A. Prakash, during a recent sitting, had criticised the corporation for poor utilisation of plan funds and for not taking measures to increase revenue sources. The commission also lambasted the mayor and deputy mayor for not attending the sitting.
“The observations made by the Finance Commission are baseless without properly understanding the realities and the basic background. All civic bodies in the state make the maximum utilisation of plan funds in February and March, and during this year we could spend 60 per cent of the funds which is a significant achievement,” said Mr. Chammany.
The commission also observed that the civic body’s collection of property tax, advertisement tax and professional tax was not impressive. In a pressnote, deputy mayor B. Bhadra claimed that there was a significant increase in tax collection compared to the previous years.
As per the official statement, during the 2009 -2010 fiscal, the total building tax collection was Rs. 37.4 crore while it had increased to Rs. 57.3 crore during 2013 - 2014.
There has been proportionate increase in the collection of advertisement, employment, entertainment and other taxes, claimed the civic body.
The mayor and the deputy mayor pointed out the road development worth Rs. 40 crore, animal birth control programme at a cost of Rs. 1.20 crore, construction of public buildings and disbursement of welfare pensions as major achievements during their tenure.
The Finance Commission’s sitting in Kochi was held on Saturday last in which the corporation secretary, executive engineer and other officials participated, but not any selected people’s representatives.
