State LBT grant to civic body pending

Nashik: Civic administration may barely manage salary of employees if it does not get the government's grant on local body tax. The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) is yet to receive the grant that comes on the fifth of every month.
"Every month we get the grant from the state government by fifth. This time we are yet to get the funds," said an NMC official.
The highest octroi collection was Rs 695.31, that was in the financial year 2012-2013 and the NMC considered an annual growth of eight percent.According to this the target collection was set at Rs 751 crore in year 2014-15. This year the target collection is Rs 811 crore.
In May 2013, octroi was scrapped and local body tax (LBT) was implemented. Last year LBT was scrapped for businesses with a turnover of less than Rs 50 crore. Only those traders with a turnover of more than 50 crore have to pay LBT which is around 90. More than 3,000 small and big traders and businessmen had registered for LBT initially. In comparison to this the bigger traders are dismal in number. In a special provision, the state government pays compensation for losses in revenue to the NMC. Last year, it used to pay Rs 45 crore monthly.
"Last year, the target of collection was Rs 751 crore. Considering the eight percent increase, the target this year is Rs 811 crore.
We have to get around Rs 30 crore from traders and Rs 5 crore from stamp duty collection. We should get Rs 67 crores monthly this year but minus Rs 30 crore which we will be collecting, we should be getting Rs 37-40 crore. This will take care of the salary of the employees. If we do not get the government grant by this month then managing other expenses will become very difficult for the NMC," said the official.