Indore (Madhya Pradesh): In what must have come as a relief for the traders, mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav assured them that IMC won’t charge the hiked trade licence fees from the traders.
The state government has increased the trade licence fees and notified it also. The traders have been up in arms against the hike and met the IMC commissioner Harshika Singh in this regard. They had also planned to hold a mega meeting of traders on Wednesday under the banner of Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Siyaganj auditorium, to chalk out a strategy to counter the hike in trade licence fees. However, after the assurance of the mayor, the proposed meeting has been called off.
About 6 months ago the state government had issued orders to levy fee on the basis of the size of the hoardings put up on the shops. However, when the traders protested, it was put in cold storage. Now, the government has ordered the local bodies to charge higher fees for new trade licence.
The licence fee will be decided on the location of the market and the position of the shop in the market which means that the licence fee will be different for different areas.
Ramesh Khandelwal, president of Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the traders are already burdened by GST and other taxes and this new tax would give a free hand to officials to ‘loot’ the traders. Khandelwal said that if the decision is implemented in future, they will launch a protest.
SUGGESTIONS COLLECTED FROM PUBLIC
Meanwhile, for the first time, the common people of the city will have a say in the IMC budget, for financial year 2023-24, which would be presented on April 27. The budget preparation is in its final stages and the work related to its publication has also started
Mayor Bhargav has taken suggestions from the people regarding what they would like to see in the budget and these would be incorporated in the budget. Suggestions have also been taken from public representatives, intellectuals, businessmen and also teachers.
The suggestions were collected through Google Forms. A committee was set up to shortlist the suggestions and recommend them to the mayor for their incorporation into the budget.
"As the budget is for the people of Indore, so we thought of taking their suggestions. We have accommodated their expectations from the budget in our draft," Bhargav said.
“We have received many good suggestions and they have been included in the budget. This time the budget will be unique and innovative. This year the budget will have provision to make Indore into a digital and solar city,” Bhargav said.
According to information, this year's budget is about Rs 7,400 crore.
The budget will be tabled by the Mayor during the IMC's meeting scheduled at Brilliant Convention Centre on April 27.
