VMC estate panel to be disbanded

VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation''s (VMC''s) estate section, which has control over the properties of the VMC, is being disbanded with immediate effect following allegations of corruption.
The estate section is headed by a deputy commissioner and is one of the crucial wings of the civic body that looks after shopping complexes and other commercial properties.The VMC secures Rs 6 crore income per annum through the estate section.
The section has reportedly earned notoriety for corruption in all its affairs be it leasing of commercial complexes and change of ownership. There are allegations that the estate section officials often colluded with members of the VMC''s standing committee in leasing out commercial complexes in prime localities at very nominal rents thereby causing heavy financial losses to the VMC.
Municipal commissioner Praveen Prakash recently suspended the section superintendent and a clerk for allegedly taking huge bribes over the lease of a slaughterhouse in Vijayawada. Additional commissioner Rajagopala Rao Naidu was also penalised for his role in this affair.
Even in the leasing of shops in the Kaleswara Rao Market Commercial Complex in I town, the estate section officials came under sharp criticism for allegedly colluding with some key members of the standing committee and leasing out shops at nominal rents.
Against this backdrop, the commissioner decided to abolish the estate section in the VMC. Confirming this to The Times of India on Friday, he said that the move was part of the decentralisation process in the civic body.
Henceforth, the three circle offices would look after the estate section duties in their jurisdictions. The circle offices will act as e-Seva centres for collection of rents and other taxes and leaseholders can directly pay their bills at these places.
Apart from this, the VMC is extending a new facility of payment of taxes through credit cards. The civic body began dispatching the tax demand notices through a private courier service besides updating tax information on the VMC''s website www.ourvmc.org.
Now that the site is hooked on to the Siti-e-governance project, payment of taxes could be made through credit card, the commissioner said.