The earlier two state finance commissions had deprived the civic body of its share, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya claimed on Monday, while demanding “preferential treatment” from the third panel.

“Calcutta deserves a bigger allocation,” the mayor argued before the chairman of the third state finance commission, Sukhabilas Barma.

“More so, since the megacity schemes have been replaced by Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, under which the civic body has to cough up half the cost of any development project. In mega city schemes, the expenses were borne by the Centre and the state,” he stated.

Bhattacharyya alleged that the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC)’s claims were ignored to benefit other urban bodies, “whose performance was not as good as ours”.

“Where is our share of motor vehicles tax? Even when it comes rarely, it falls short of the expenditure incurred on road repairs. The state owes the CMC hundreds of crores in property tax dues,” he asserted.

The money collected as entertainment tax, he added, is distributed almost equally among all urban local bodies, though most halls are in Calcutta.