The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) board on Friday approved realisation of advertisement tax and fine at revised rates from the state capital area.

The new rates will be collected with retrospective effect from August 24, 2008. Decision on the rates came five years after the civic body’s plan to collect royalty for hoardings.

Advertisers will have to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 per signage for illegal hoardings, unregistered advertisement vehicles and neon signs. Outdoor advertisement firms will also be asked to pay Rs 5,000 for registration and Rs 500 for annual renewal of the licence.

The corporation board, in its last meeting before the civic polls (scheduled next month), also decided that advertisement tax defaulters will be fined at the rate of 1.5 per cent per month.

PMC commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal said the civic body would also collect fee from fairs, circuses and exhibitions at the rate of Rs 25 per sqft on government land and Rs 5 per sqft on private land every month.

The board also approved the hiring of two consultant firms for preparing the detailed project report (DPR) for extensive drainage and sewerage works in the city.

While private firm Messers Tetratake will prepare the DPR for areas between Beur and Saidpur, another agency, Meinherdt Singapore Private Limited, would prepare the project report for the rest of the city. The urban development department will then review the reports.

Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation will carry out the projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.