The Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation council on Saturday approved the draft building tax rates as per the recent revisions proposed by the State government.
The public has an opportunity to submit complaints and suggestions on the draft proposals for the next 15 days, after which the rates will again come up for the council’s approval. The draft revisions were approved amid protests by the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Corporation has decided to retain the current building tax rate of ₹16 per square metre for residential buildings up to 300 square metres, even though the government had proposed that local bodies can charge between ₹10 to ₹22 for this category. The revised rates for residential buildings above 300 square metres is ₹20 per square metre. The civic body has fixed a tax of ₹20 per square metre for home stays and school buildings, even though the government had proposed ₹22.
In the case of hospital buildings, the Corporation’s proposed rate is ₹30, while the government had allowed charging between ₹30 and ₹40 per square metre. For private office buildings, the tax rate has been fixed at ₹80, while the government had proposed a rate of between ₹70 to ₹100 per square metre. For commercial buildings, the rate has been fixed at ₹90 per square metre for buildings up to 100 square metres, even though the government had proposed a maximum rate of ₹100. But, it has been decided to levy the maximum rate of ₹170 per square metre proposed by the government for shopping malls.
The proposed rate for private hostel and resorts is ₹100 per square metre, for lodge and hotel (up to 300 square metre) is ₹80, for lodge and hotel (above 300 square metre) is ₹90, for brick kilns is ₹40, amusement parks is ₹60, mobile towers is ₹800, telecommunication pole is ₹700, and for swimming pool, gymnasium and turf is ₹60.
Earlier in the day, CPI(M) councillor Clinus Rosario was elected as the chairperson of the Welfare Standing committee. The CPI(M) had recently undertaken a rejig of standing committee chairperson posts as well as shifted some of its members between committees.
