The dread of downturn has hit home at the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) with earnings from housing plans plummeting by the week.

The civic body has earned Rs 23 crore in the last quarter by sanctioning new construction projects, less than half the amount contributed by the realty sector to its kitty during the same period last year.

The first half of December has been worse, with only Rs 1.25 crore coming from 34 project approvals. Last year, the buildings department had earned Rs 22 crore in December alone.

“If the trend continues till March, the buildings department’s earnings in the current financial year will be less than Rs 100 crore,” a senior engineer of the CMC said.

Every new project launched by a realtor translates into revenue for the CMC exchequer, amounting to nearly Rs 150 crore annually.

But the civic body’s buildings department has received very few construction proposals since October.

“The number of building plans submitted for approval in the past two-and-a-half months is one-third of the figure for September,” an official said.

Mayoral council member Dipankar De said the CMC’s earnings from approval of building plans had peaked in 2006-07, reaching Rs 156 crore on the strength of the realty boom in the city.

“The buildings department’s contribution to the civic coffers was then second only to that of the civic assessment department, which collects property tax. But we are feeling the pinch of the meltdown now,” said De.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya echoed him. “We fear the buildings department will be unable to maintain its position,” he said.

With everyone from the builder to the lender to the buyer playing it safe, the proposals on the CMC desk are drying up.

“All of them have adopted a wait-and-watch policy. Even realtors who submitted their project plans to the civic body before the hard times began aren’t depositing the sanction fees,” said Gora Chand Mondol, the director-general (buildings).

Pradeep Sureka, the president of real estate body Credai (Bengal), said: “There has been a price correction in a few localities but demand is low across the city. That has made builders wary about starting new projects or expanding existing ones, resulting in less revenue for the civic body.”

Real estate prices in some parts of the city have declined by 25 to 30 per cent since September.

“It is a bizarre situation. The price of a flat has declined by 15 to 30 per cent, depending on the locality, but demand is still much lower than expected,” said Pradip Chopra, the chairman of the PS Group.

The big players admit they are focusing on selling their existing stocks instead of launching new projects.

“I think the trend will continue for the next four or five months. Most realtors are eager to complete and sell those flats for which they have already paid sanction fees to the CMC,” felt Chopra.