Fruit vendors do business outside the recently-opened GMC market in Machkhowa. Picture by Manas Paran

Feb. 11: A vigilance team comprising councillors of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) today conducted a survey of the Fancy Bazar to determine the revenue generated from the area.

The civic body, which has been facing a funds-crunch, is weighing ways and means to generate revenue for carrying out development projects in the city.

Opposition councillor Prabhat Das said they conducted the survey to find out if the corporation would be able to collect revenue from all the roadside shops from the major commercial hub. ?We have found out 382 roadside shops in and around the newly-constructed Fancy Bazar Municipal Market complex. This is just an exercise to find out the actual number of shops located in the area. We will survey the entire Fancy Bazar area within a few days,? Das said.

Das said there are more than a thousand shops only in Fancy Bazar and the corporation levies Rs 20 from each shop on a daily basis. The team will submit the survey report to GMC commissioner Archana Verma and compare the figures in the earlier data. The GMC standing committee on market collects daily taxes from these shops and prepares a report on the collection and the number of shops.

According to the vigilance team, the corporation should generate Rs 1.70 lakh per month from these 382 shops. The team had surveyed four roads near the market complex on an experimental basis. The four roads are MM Road, Dewan Patty, Fruit Stall and MS Road.

?We have asked for the previous files from the commissioner to examine the facts. As the financial condition of the corporation is very poor, we are trying to generate revenue to improve its condition,? Das added. He said the corporation cannot depend only on the property and the water tax, rather it should generate the maximum revenue from fine and market taxes, which is the major source of earning.

Das said the team would visit different places of the city without any previous notice and conduct survey. ?It is a surprise check to find if any of the shopkeepers are trying to evade the tax. Evading the tax would mean loss of revenue for the corporation,? he added.

The team has also placed a demand before the commissioner that the revenue generated from these commercial areas should only be spent on executing the pending development projects.