AMC officials, business fraternity comes face to face over issue of license fee in city

Aurangabad, Jan 5:

A delegation of Zilla Vyapari Mahasangh (ZVM) today met the municipal commissioner A K Pandey and submitted a memorandum of various demands to him. As reported earlier, the business fraternity had strongly registered their opposition to the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation''s (AMC) decision of issuing the business license and collecting annual fees during its renewal. Meanwhile, the civic administration has clarified that it is firm on its decision.

The AMC was expected to issue the license and collect fees five years ago. It was necessary to decide the tenure of the then municipal commissioner Harshadeep Kamble. As the decision taken by the general body (GB) was not implemented, the Auditor General-Nagpur raised an objection, which is as a very serious thing. The license fee will be collected according to rules. Whether it should be collected through a contractor or not is a secondary issue. The AMC does not have a sufficient workforce, therefore, it was thought to rope in a private partner. It is very important for the AMC administration to take the necessary steps to improve its financial situation. We will take the business fraternity into confidence before the implementation of the order, said A K Pandey.

The delegation of business fraternity met the civic chief today afternoon. While speaking to media persons after the meeting, the president of Mahasangh Jaganath Kale said, " Presently, the business fraternity is a soft target for the civic administration. The fraternity is already burdened under various taxes. The civic chief reminded us that the (GB) meeting had passed the proposal. Hence, we are also shocked by the decision taken by the parties in power. We were told that the proposal had stayed. We do not want to make an issue of license fee. If needed, we will come on-road and also fight a legal battle."

Mahasangh''s secretary Laxminarayan Rathi, Yusuf Mukati, Ajay Shah, Harvinder Singh Saluja, Praful Malani, Kachru Velunjkar and others were also present on occasion.