Kolkata News

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by Aritra Das

i guess wat the population increase suggests for the future is in tandem with their economic development forecast of the city.

Could be. Not sure of their methodology or assumptions.

For example in the 2011 census Dankuni and Kolkata are considered separate Urban Agglomerations. They could become one continuous UA in next census. Also many surrounding villages could become census towns and could be included in getting the UA population. So the increase will be more as a result of peripheral urbanization of semi rural areas rather than millions of new people coming in.

[BengaliTiger]

Originally Posted by Suncity

Doesn't make sense. It shows that the net addition is going up for Kolkata.



Actually demographers are puzzled by the population growth decline in not only Kolkata but also other areas of Bengal. See the news report here.

I guess the reporting was in a negative sense. The GoI must give special allowance to Bengal for achiving this status. Govt must be happy that the Population Control Promotional works worked in bengal. The census shows again,What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. Just wished some of the districts like Malda, Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas the growth rate had gone down as well.

[NiladriG]

It's good if the population growth in Kolkata is on decline, the city's infrastructure is already stretched, rather develop satellite towns around Kolkata.

[AbhishekDatta]

new equipment for disaster management group..

[niljee]

Indian Plastic Federation to set up knowledge park near Kolkata

KOLKATA: Indian Plastic Federation (IPF) is setting up a knowledge centre at Sankrail near Kolkata. The project which is likely to cost around Rs 25 crores, will be implemented in phases with over one lakh sq ft area of construction. This was indicated by Amar Seth, chairman, Indplas'12 exhibition organising committee and IPF Knowledge Centre.

Mr Seth said: "IPF is setting up a knowledge centre on 1.02 acre of land in a 50 acre poly park in Sankrail near Kolkata named as 'IPF Knowledge Centre' (IPF - KC). It will have a training centre for imparting training in all processing sectors of polymers, testing laboratory, library, hostel, alternate energy section and a plastic scrap re-processing demo plant. It will function as a supplementing tool for the realization of the policy of the government towards employment generation.""

IPF also announced that Indplas'12 - 6th International Exhibition on Plastics will be held in Kolkata from October 5 - 8, 2012. Exhibitors and business visitors from all over India and neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, China, Taiwan and Vietnam will attend the exhibition.

Seth said that entrepreneurs located in different parts of the country can use this platform to promote sales of their products and also set up new units to bridge the present gap between demand and supply of locally manufactured products. Indplas'12 will function as a catalyst to bring together consumer and manufacturer of plastic products. Indplas'12 is an ideal platform for MSME and tiny plastic processing units, machine manufacturers and mould makers to showcase their capability to world.

""With per capita consumption of only 3.5 kg in the eastern region against all India per capita consumption of 8 Kg and worldwide average of 30 kg, eastern India offers an excellent opportunity for growth of the plastic processing industry,"" he added.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/12879552.cms

[AbhishekDatta]

ruthless action needed for this suckers..

Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans to extend waiver scheme deadline
TNN | Apr 26, 2012, 04.41AM IST

KOLKATA: With the waiver scheme generating a huge response, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to extend it beyond its current April 30 deadline.

A whopping 1.03 lakh property tax defaulters have already paid their dues under the scheme that began on February 1 and the civic body has mopped up Rs 162 crore from these defaulters.

Almost 90% of those, who availed the scheme, are middle class property owners with dues ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. KMC assessment department sources said only three major defaulters, with outstanding property tax of more than Rs 1 crore, have cleared the dues since February 1.

Municipal commissioner Arnab Roy has already asked KMC assessment department officials to prepare a list of major and habitual defaulters who have not responded to the waiver scheme. The department pegs the total outstanding at Rs 2,600 crore. Of this, Rs 900 crore is on the account of just 301 defaulters. "They are habitual defaulters and we have failed to bring them under our tax net in the last 10 years. These major defaulters have not responded to two waiver schemes offered by the civic body in the past," a KMC assessment department official said.

However, encouraged by the response from middle class defaulters, the civic top brass is contemplating extending the deadline to mop up more revenues. "Right now, we have decided to keep eight treasuries across the city open on Sunday to offer taxpayers a last chance to avail the waiver. We may also have to decide on extending the deadline considering the response from taxpayers," said a KMC assessment department official.

Department sources said the 2002 waiver scheme, offered by the Trinamool board, was introduced from July that year for six months, but eventually had to be extended till March 2003, as the civic body failed to rope in major and habitual defaulters.

However, a section of KMC officials felt that an extension this time won't come easily. First, KMC needs to write to the state government for an extension and the proposal must be cleared by the cabinet, a civic official said. "We have received a good amount of unpaid tax through the waiver scheme. We hope to get more in the remaining days," said mayor Sovan Chatterjee said.

With middleclass property tax defaulters responding overwhelmingly for availing waiver on the interest or penalty payable on their arrears, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is contemplating extending the scheme beyond its current April 30 deadline.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/12874334.cms

[NiladriG]

They will keep issuing waivers, extend deadlines and won't do anything. Mayor will say previous govt. didn't do anything. They have the same policy regarding fire safety, even after so many fire related deaths, many buildings are openly flouting the fire safety norms. Life is indeed very cheap in India.

[anan355]

Originally Posted by AbhishekDatta

ruthless action needed for this suckers..

Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans to extend waiver scheme deadline
TNN | Apr 26, 2012, 04.41AM IST

KOLKATA: With the waiver scheme generating a huge response, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to extend it beyond its current April 30 deadline.

A whopping 1.03 lakh property tax defaulters have already paid their dues under the scheme that began on February 1 and the civic body has mopped up Rs 162 crore from these defaulters.

Almost 90% of those, who availed the scheme, are middle class property owners with dues ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. KMC assessment department sources said only three major defaulters, with outstanding property tax of more than Rs 1 crore, have cleared the dues since February 1.

Municipal commissioner Arnab Roy has already asked KMC assessment department officials to prepare a list of major and habitual defaulters who have not responded to the waiver scheme. The department pegs the total outstanding at Rs 2,600 crore. Of this, Rs 900 crore is on the account of just 301 defaulters. "They are habitual defaulters and we have failed to bring them under our tax net in the last 10 years. These major defaulters have not responded to two waiver schemes offered by the civic body in the past," a KMC assessment department official said.

However, encouraged by the response from middle class defaulters, the civic top brass is contemplating extending the deadline to mop up more revenues. "Right now, we have decided to keep eight treasuries across the city open on Sunday to offer taxpayers a last chance to avail the waiver. We may also have to decide on extending the deadline considering the response from taxpayers," said a KMC assessment department official.

Department sources said the 2002 waiver scheme, offered by the Trinamool board, was introduced from July that year for six months, but eventually had to be extended till March 2003, as the civic body failed to rope in major and habitual defaulters.

However, a section of KMC officials felt that an extension this time won't come easily. First, KMC needs to write to the state government for an extension and the proposal must be cleared by the cabinet, a civic official said. "We have received a good amount of unpaid tax through the waiver scheme. We hope to get more in the remaining days," said mayor Sovan Chatterjee said.

With middleclass property tax defaulters responding overwhelmingly for availing waiver on the interest or penalty payable on their arrears, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is contemplating extending the scheme beyond its current April 30 deadline.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/12874334.cms

I think...its high time that they start booking the major defaulters ( with more than 1 crore of outstanding dues). This year KMC budget deficit was 160 crores and they have already crossed that amount. But they cannot have this waiver every year. So this is the time that they should start targeting to garner at least 1000 crores.

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by anan355

I think...its high time that they start booking the major defaulters ( with more than 1 crore of outstanding dues). This year KMC budget deficit was 160 crores and they have already crossed that amount. But they cannot have this waiver every year. So this is the time that they should start targeting to garner at least 1000 crores.

In 2008 the major defaulters were Govt depts and organizations. Wonder if the list has changed much in 2011-2012. The CPM didn't touch them at that time. Can the TMC touch them provided the list is populated with govt agencies? I think their hands are tied.

news from 2008

Government bodies top KMC’s defaulter list

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-n...r-list/281876/

Report prepared by the revenue department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation has shown that it is the various state government departments rather than private parties which top the list of property tax defaulters in the city.
Several nationalised banks and Science City, the biggest science park in the metropolis, have also not cleared their dues that they owe to the KMC.

While, the Science City run by National Council of Science Museum has not cleared its dues of Rs 15 crore, the West Bengal State Electricity Board tops the list with an outstanding amount of Rs 18,69,14443.

State government agencies like Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Kolkata Improvement Trust (KIT), Kolkata Police Jail, State transport department, State excise and West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation have not paid tax to the civic body for several years.

The Public Works Department of the state government is the second biggest defaulter , followed by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority with an outstanding amount of Rs 14,63,2858.

The government-run hospitals are also not far behind. Be it the Calcutta Medical College and Hospitals or Nilratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospitals, none of the state-run hospitals have paid tax to the civic body.

The amount of money that is due from the state-run hospitals is Rs 10,96,50393. Kolkata Police is just a step behind the government hospitals with an outstanding amount of more than Rs 2 crore.

Several nationalised banks like Allahabad Bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Central Bank of India have inflated the list of defaulters.

Most of the housing premises used by the staff of SBI in the city have not paid tax at least for the past ten years. Similar is the case with UBI, Canara Bank and Allahabad Bank.

These banks have not paid any property tax for the past 10 years.

To collect tax from a private party, the KMC adopts the system of raiding by sending the revenue collection inspectors to the premises of the defaulters.

The civic-body is, however, not too sure if they will be able to use the same system to collect money from the concerned government agencies.

“The state government and the KMC are backed by the CPM. The chances of using the raid technique, where a defaulter is forced to pay tax or else his property is seized by the civic body, stands weak,” added a source in the revenue department.

[anan355]

Originally Posted by Suncity

In 2008 the major defaulters were Govt depts and organizations. Wonder if the list has changed much in 2011-2012. The CPM didn't touch them at that time. Can the TMC touch them provided the list is populated with govt agencies? I think their hands are tied.

news from 2008

Government bodies top KMC’s defaulter list

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-n...r-list/281876/

Now ...this is a fantastic piece of information. I am not sure whether TMC will also be able to collect money from these govt institutes. However I vaguely remember that seeing a list somewhere that a large amount of private institutes are also owing Govt a lot of money. Pvt institutes like AC Market and La Martiniere School etc. Even if the KMC wants to so some simple stuffs in next 5 years like completing the flyover projects, putting mastic asphalt on a large number of roads in Kolkata , and gifting large stretches of big, wide, unbroken pavements across the city and beautification of the stretches along the canals, they will need thousands of crores .

[Cosmicbliss]

Originally Posted by BengaliTiger

I guess the reporting was in a negative sense. The GoI must give special allowance to Bengal for achiving this status. Govt must be happy that the Population Control Promotional works worked in bengal. The census shows again,What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. Just wished some of the districts like Malda, Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas the growth rate had gone down as well.

But is slow growth of a city a good thing? Might it not be a reflection that migration to Kolkata is declining both from within the state/other states? Delhi's population growth rate is now higher than Delhi and I guess migration is a major cause i.e. Delhi now attracts more and more migrants, pushing its population growth rate up. In fact high population growth of a city may reflect how many people it is attracting and have less or very little to do with size of families or family planning.

[Cosmicbliss]

This may also in turn depend a lot on the economic opportunities a city is offering in potential migrants.

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by Cosmicbliss

But is slow growth of a city a good thing? Might it not be a reflection that migration to Kolkata is declining both from within the state/other states? Delhi's population growth rate is now higher than Delhi and I guess migration is a major cause i.e. Delhi now attracts more and more migrants, pushing its population growth rate up. In fact high population growth of a city may reflect how many people it is attracting and have less or very little to do with size of families or family planning.

As per IIHS Delhi and West Bengal both figure in the top ten migration flows in India. But for WB it is mainly from Bihar while for Delhi it is from several states.



The population growth rate has not only come down for Kolkata UA but also for Delhi UA and Mumbai UA [in fact India's population growth rate has seen a substantial decline; But even a 1.7% growth rate for India would mean 17 million added per year! So while percentages may decline, actual numbers are still huge.
].

Also note that there have been population declines in the core districts like Kolkata, South Mumbai, New Delhi and Central Delhi.

In established core urban areas, lower population growth rate is bound to happen as space is limited and expansion happens in peripheral and outlying areas. Plus with rising literacy and economic activity population growth rate will go down.
As per a IIHS report "Contrary to perception, migration does not contribute to the increase in India's urban population as much as natural growth."

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by BengaliTiger

Just wished some of the districts like Malda, Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas the growth rate had gone down as well.

They have gone down.

2001

West Bengal - 1.78%
Malda - 2.47%
Murshidabad - 2.37%
North 24 Paraganas - 2.26%
South 24 paraganas - 2.08%

2011

West Bengal - 1.39%
Malda - 2.15%
Murshidabad - 2.1%
North 24 Paraganas - 1.2%
South 24 Paraganas - 1.8%

[BengaliTiger]

I dont know what data you are using but http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-p...engal/2-a1.xls says something else.

The decadal growth rate for 2001-2011 is

Uttar Dinajpur -22.90
Maldah -21.5
Murshidabad - 21.07
South 24 Parganas - 18.05

West Bengal Avg - 13.93
Though there was some decrease from the earlier census, but it was not substantial, most of the districts growth rate has almost gone down by 30 to 50 %, with the exception of Purba Midnapore and Puruliya (gained around 1.5 %)

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by BengaliTiger

I dont know what data you are using but http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-p...engal/2-a1.xls says something else.

The decadal growth rate for 2001-2011 is

Uttar Dinajpur -22.90
Maldah -21.5
Murshidabad - 21.07
South 24 Parganas - 18.05

West Bengal Avg - 13.93
Though there was some decrease from the earlier census, but it was not substantial, most of the districts growth rate has almost gone down by 30 to 50 %, with the exception of Purba Midnapore and Puruliya (gained around 1.5 %)

divide by 10 and you get an appx annual growth rate.

[AbhishekDatta]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/12944351.cms

CM's nod for tax waiver extension
TNN | May 1, 2012, 03.33AM IST

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Monday extended its waiver scheme on property tax interest and penalty till May 15, following green light from chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The civic body has so far got an overwhelming response from the defaulters.

It has mopped up a whopping Rs 304 crore with tax defaulters turning up in large numbers to avail the waiver and clear their outstanding dues.

The government's permission for the extension landed at the civic headquarters in the evening.

Municipal commissioner Arnab Roy had earlier written to state municipal affairs secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay seeking an extension of the waiver deadline. The formal approval was issued after the chief minister nod. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said all treasury counters across the city, including the one at the civic headquarters, will remain open next two Sundays - May 6 and May 13.

The mayor hopes that with the deadline extension, some more defaulters will clear their dues. The civic body is need of a huge amount to fund development projects in the city. "The waiver scheme has been a major success. The funds available from the scheme will be utilized on development work," Chatterjee said.

Going by the KMC revenue department records, around 1.30 lakh taxpayers have applied for the waiver so far. Though the initial response to the scheme (that opened on February 1) was lukewarm, revenue collection gained momentum in the last 30 days. "While we collected Rs 100 crore in the first two months, in April alone we got Rs 204 crore," said a KMC assessment department official.

A treasury department official said around 15,000 taxpayers deposited their dues amounting to Rs 100 crore in last week alone. "On Saturday, we collected Rs 38 crore under the scheme, an amount higher than the entire collection under the scheme in February," the KMC treasury department official said.

Figures available with the KMC assessment department show that 70% of those who availed of the scheme owed the civic body between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000. The bulk of the remaining 30% defaulters owed between Rs 50,000 and Rs 100,000. Only 10 major defaulters owing Rs 1 crore and above came forward to clear their dues, said a KMC assessment department official.

It was due to an overwhelming response from small defaulters that the civic body deployed extra manpower at major treasuries across the city and the cash collection centres had been kept open till 8pm last week. Debabrata Majumdar, member, mayor-in-council (revenue), who took charge a couple of months ago, felt that the scheme succeeded as a majority of minor defaulters queued up to pay their dues.

But some minor defaulters who cleared their dues resent that the KMC assessment department sent them fresh tax bills even after issuing an NOC.

Majumdar acknowledged the problem and assured that every single problem would be taken care of. "We have already rectified a large number of tax bills sent by default," he said.

[NiladriG]

Middle class tax defaulters will pay sooner or later, it's the big sharks/whales that need to be caught. These sharks have stashed lot of money and try to evade all sorts of taxes.

[anan355]

304 crores is a nice amount. But as I said earlier they need to mop up much more because they cannot have this scheme every year.

KMC needs to build its image as a law enforcing agency. That will force more people to automatically cough up their dues. Otherwise if the "fear factor" is not there major defaulters will not pay.

[studdmanster]

cc: TNN

On the eve of completing one-year term,the state has given renewed focus on industry.
After the new land bill in March,proposing to relax land ceiling laws for industry,the state government is approaching Union ministry of environment and forests for lifting moratorium on new projects in the industrial belts of Haldia,Asansol and Howrah.
There is a blanket ban on new industrial projects as well as for expansion of existing projects in these areas by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).The ban,which was earlier extended up to March 2012 by CPCB,has been extended indefinitely by the central agency recently.
State industry minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters that chief minister Mamata Banerjee has already approached the ministry of environment and forests for lifting the ban.The ban is affecting investments in Haldia and other region which is critical for the development of the state, he said.Chatterjee added that the state government is taking industry on board in its effort to lift ban.The industry minister convened the meeting of the core group on industry on Wednesday,the first after the introduction of the new land bill,to discuss issues related to land and moratorium on investment in some industrial clusters.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had decided to observe a moratorium on the environment clearance in highly polluting industrial clusters till it comes up with a comprehensive strategy to check pollution.They imposed moratorium based on Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI ).There are 43 industrial clusters in the country that are facing the ban.Haldia has CEPI of 75.43 followed by 74.8 of Howrah and 70.2 of Asansol.Anything beyond 70 is being considered highly polluting.
According to Chatterjee,Bengal Chamber of Commerce (BCCI) has taken initiative to conduct a study on the pollution in Haldia.We have requested industry bodies to take up the issue.BCCI has approached IIT Delhi in this regard, he added.Partha S Bhattacharyya,senior vice president of BCCI and MD of Haldia Petrochemicals said that IIT Delhi did the CEPI study for different industrial clusters.We want to conduct a study through them only.BCCI will carry a sub cluster analysis in Haldia to identify those industries which are causing pollution.There are industries which are not polluting much,so ban on those can be lifted, he added.