Hubballi-Dharwad City Municipal Corporation has chalked out a plan for extending the underground drainage network to all the wards in the twin cities at a cost of ₹2,000 crore, Mayor Iresh Anchatageri has said.
He told journalists in Dharwad on Tuesday that the facility will be extended to all the wards in the two cities.
He said that the demand for grant of funds will be sent to the State government soon. Nearly one-third of the area of the twin cities have the amenity, as of now.
He said that the corporation will speed up work on the project for providing drinking water to all the wards in Hubballi-Dharwad. Work on the 24 x 7 project has started in 35 wards now and it will be extended to all the wards. This project is estimated to need ₹1,200 crore. Works have been taken up in earnest.
“We have noticed that residents of areas without underground drainage are paying up to ₹15,000 per year to clean septic tanks. We have demands from residents of various wards for the amenity. Some of them are willing pay extra cess for this. We will communicate this to the State government. Once our plans are approved, we will go ahead with the projects,” he said.
The city corporation plans to levy tax on buildings that are let out as paying guest facilities. “We have conducted a survey of houses or institutions offering paying guest facilities for a fee and found that there were over 12,000 such facilities. While Hubballi has 4,000, Dharwad has twice that number. Over 1.25 lakh students are studying there. They will be taxed beginning June 1,” he said.
The city corporation has identified over one lakh unauthorised property in its jurisdiction. They include domestic and commercial buildings that do not have completion certificates or those who have not paid property tax. All such property owners have been issued notices to help them make use of an opportunity to regularise their premises by undergoing some documentation and paying tax. If they do not do that, the will be taxed at twice the usual rates.
The urban local body has gathered around Rs 650 crore in tax this year. It is nearly 60% higher than the ₹380 crore collected last year.
