Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), cash-strapped and struggling to breathe, is losing Rs 150 crore by not levying a fee on advertisements carried by nearly 3,000 cabs and autorickshaws.
The RTC was exempted from paying the fee for a year in 2005, but the waiver has continued unofficially. That is about Rs 50 crore revenue lost.
This apart, the government has not taken a decision on the Hyderabad Metro Rail paying fees on the advertisements on its pillars. If it is allowed to levy fees on the HMRL, GHMC can earn another Rs 100 crore.
The GHMC has earned only Rs 40 crore during the previous financial year, mainly from 2,600 authorised hoardings. Thousands of hoardings in the city have not been accounted for.
When asked about the poor revenue from advertisement fees, GHMC additional commissioner (revenue) Adwaith Kumar Singh said a survey would be conducted by the field ground and every hoarding would be brought into the tax net.
