SGST Bill: Maha FM meets Thackeray for Sena support; Cong fumesSGST Bill: Maha FM meets Thackeray for Sena support; Cong fumes

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray PicSayyed Sameer AbediIn a bid to ensure a smooth passage of the State Goods and Services Tax SGST bill at the upcoming special session of the state legislature Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar called on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residenceThe finance ministers move came days after Thackeray raised concern over the loss the BMC will suffer on account of the abolition of octroi once the Goods and Services Tax GST comes into effect from July 1 this yearSpeaking to reporters at his office in Mantralaya here Mungantiwar said his meeting with Thackeray was positive and that a draft of the SGST bill will be sent to the Sena chief for his studyThe special threeday session of the state legislature will be held to ratify the SGST Bill between May 20 and May 22 Uddhav ji was apprehensive about the BMC having to depend on the Centre and the state government for compensation and its share of revenue the minister saidHe explained that even after the Centre stops compensating BMC the state will continue to compensate not only the BMC for loss in octroi revenue but also other municipal corporations in the state which shall also face loss in revenue due to abolition of Local Bodies Tax LBTMungantiwar said by the proposed SGST law the government will guarantee that civic bodies like the BMC shall get monthly assured funds with interest if there is any delay in the release of funds by the CentreThis year the BMCs estimated revenue income by way of octori was pegged at Rs 7200 crore Considering the average natural rise in revenue income over the last decade the state has assured the BMC of compensating it at the rate of 8 per cent which is double the revenue income of the BMC by way of octroi he saidThe minister further said that the government will release funds to all the municipal corporations one month in advance Revenue income of all the 26 municipal corporations in the state stands at Rs 13000 crore now Out of which the revenue income of the BMC alone was Rs 7200 crore whereas the revenue income of other municipal corporations was about Rs 6500 crore Mungantiwar saidStating that the revenue income of these civic bodies rises every year he said the government will have to compensate them in case of loss of revenueConsidering the fact that the state will have no role in raising tax revenue after the GST comes into effect Mungantiwar said that in order to raise states income the state will have to devise new ways like raising the nontax revenueThere are about 17000 lease rent properties in Mumbai alone whose lease rent needs to be considered for revision Besides there are some charges on the purchase of new vehicles raise some fines like those on drunken driving land valuation rates he saidHe added that there are about 150odd ways through which the state government can raise the nontax revenues The states estimated nontax revenue this fiscal is pegged at Rs 19000 crore which was revised to Rs 16619 crore he said adding that the government intends to take steps to raise the nontax revenue to Rs 25000 to Rs 26000 croreAccording to Mungantiwar the current tax revenue of state stood at Rs 137230 crore while the capital investment at Rs 35940 crore The government anticipates a 14 per cent rise in the tax revenue over the next five years he addedMeanwhile Shiv Sena leader and state Industries Minister Subhash Desai said that Mungantiwar has agreed to the demands made by the Sena Sena cares about the interests of Mumbai and it had to solve many problems The talks between Mungantiwar and Thackeray focused on the need to ensure that BMCs fiscal discipline does not derail he saidMeanwhile the opposition Congress has taken a dim view of Mungantiwar calling on Thackeray What is the need to convene a special session of the state legislature later this month if Thackeray is to take a decision regarding the passage of the GST asked Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil