GHMC to catch traders evading licence fee

HYDERABAD: Around 35,000 to 40,000 shop-owners and traders are allegedly running businesses in the city without paying the trade licence fee.This has led to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) losing revenue to the tune of Rs 10 crore every year. While many small shop-owners are not aware about how to obtain a trade licence, others are not interested to shell out money to obtain a licence. In some cases, many traders have not renewed their licences or pay 'bribes' to the staff of Health and Sanitation wing.Speaking to Express, GHMC commissioner MT Krishna Babu said if corrective measures are taken, fees from trade licences can be increased substantially and help the corporation in taking up development works. He added the GHMC has started mapping city streets by taking images as well as using Google Maps and commercial property tax data available, to identify traders evading trade licences. “Our intention is not to harass traders but to make sure whoever runs a trade or business gets a trade licence,” he said.GHMC additional commissioner (Health and Sanitation) Aleem Basha said a survey was ongoing to calculate the number of traders in the city. According to GHMC records, there are about 1.20 lakh traders at present, who have trade licences. The civic body plans to increase this number to 1.50 lakh in 2011-12.In 2009-10, the trade licence fee collection was about Rs 8 crore which jumped to Rs 18 crore in 2010-11. If another 25,000 to 30,000 traders take fresh trade licences, the collection can go up to Rs 30 crore, said Basha.