MC panel to decide on selling shops to tenants

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 17

To ease out the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) from the financial crunch, MCB officials have made two proposals — one of selling 136 shops to the tenants and second to sell 4.23 acre land to Cargill Company at the Growth Centre at the rate of Rs 2,500 per yard.

The MCB was expecting to earn around Rs 10 crore from both these proposals, but now both decisions will be taken by a sub-committee.

These proposals were taken up in the meeting held on Wednesday and a decision was taken to constitute a sub-committee in both matters.

If the MCB sells the shops without giving the first floor then it will earn around Rs 6 crore and if it sells these with the first floor, it will earn around Rs 10 crore. Apart from this, it will also get Rs 1 lakh as property tax.

Shopkeepers have demanded that they should be given shops with the first floor. The names of the sub-committee members have not been cleared yet.

The Local Bodies Department had issued a notification in which it had asked shopkeepers to submit the documents by March 13.

As per the notification, the MCB would take money from tenants on government rates and give them ownership rights.

The tenants under the Municipal Corporation, council and panchayat in residential area will have to pay 66 per cent of the market rate for 20 sq yard or less, for 20 to 40 sq yard it is 75 per cent of the market rates, for 40 to 160 sq yard they will have to pay the same as the market rate.

In commercial area, the tenants have to pay 66 per cent of the market rate for 5 sq yard and below, 75 per cent of the market rate for 5 to 10 sq yard, equal to the market rate for 10 to 40 sq yard and for 40 to 50 sq yard, tenants have to pay 25 per cent extra then the market price.