Kolkata, July 24: West Bengal government proposes to increase trade enlistment fee for shops and establishments in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area, urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya told the assembly here today. Bhattacharya said that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (amendment) bill, 2003, would be placed in the house tomorrow, adding that the minimum and maximum fee would range between Rs ten and Rs 2500 respectively renewable every year.

He said that the government had already hiked the trade enlistment fees in other municipalities in the state, where the minimum and maximum amounts had been fixed at Rs ten and Rs 1,500 respectively. The minister said that the state government has doubled the amount of financial assistance, mainly non-plan, to KMC in the last three years.

Giving out statistics, he said that while the state government provided Rs 467.75 crore to KMC during 1997 to 2000 when the board was run by CPI(M), the amount had exceeded Rs 810 crore from 2001 to 2003 under Trinamool regime.

Talking about unlicensed traders, he said the number was around 9000 at the moment.

Bureau Report