Demonetisation: Windfall for municipalities as 47 civic bodies collect Rs 13,192 crore
NEW DELHI: The Centre’s demonetisation decision has led to a windfall for 47 municipalities, pushing up their total tax revenue for this month to over two and a half times the sum collected in November last year. According to the Union urban development ministry’s estimates, by Tuesday, the municipal tax collection for the 47 civic bodies had reached Rs 13,192 crore. Last November, the municipalities had collected just Rs 3,607 crore.
Mumbai has the maximum share of the increased tax collection at Rs 11,913 crore, which is 90% of the total revenue. This is over three times Mumbai’s collection for 2015. However, Hyderabad accounts for the maximum increase — 26 times the tax collection in November 2015. Surat’s tax revenue of Rs 100 crore marked a nearly 14-fold increase.
Sharing the details, Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said this was one kind of change that had happened as a result of the decision to demonetise the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. He said the government’s move had forced defaulters to deposit their dues. There have been reports of people queuing up with old notes to pay their dues.
He added that the current NDA government had approved more houses for the urban poor than UPA’s did in 10 years. In the past one and a half year, 12.84 lakh affordable houses had been sanctioned, against 12.40 lakh under UPA, he said. Naidu claimed this “speaks volumes about the sense of urgency that this government is according to make a difference to the urban sector, which is the need of the hour”.
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