Urban civic bodies are going bankrupt rendering them unable to provide basic amenities to urban population in Rajasthan, according to a memorandum submitted to the state finance commission. Following abolition of Octroi, the civic bodies had become completely dependent on the state government which reimburses the revenue losses on this account. But the government is giving only 10 per cent annual increase in the reimbursement amount against the 20 per cent annual increase in Octroi collections by the civic bodies, the memorandum submitted by the state unit of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) said.

On the other hand, the civic bodies experienced 37 per cent increase in their expenditure following implementation of new pay scales for their employees equivalent to the Fifth pay commission's recommendations for central staff which were accepted for the state employees also. This led to bankruptcy of all civic bodies in the state and made them completely dependent on grants from the state government, the memorandum presented to the chairman of the state finance commission Hira Lal Devpura on Friday said.
The memorandum demanded transfer of entire collections of the entertainment and the land and building tax to civic bodies and a share of 25 per cent of the local sales tax, road tax, stamp duty and registration fee to them. It also demanded more financial and administrative powers for urban civic bodies. Bureau Report