Bhubaneswar, Oct. 29: Corporation officials are miffed with Bhawani Constructions Private Limited, the company with which it runs a mall in Saheed Nagar, for slapping a Rs 2.15cr bill on the civic body as common area maintenance charge.
The private partner of the BMC-Bhawani Mall has billed the corporation on account of deployment of security guards, housekeeping service, maintaining electrical fittings, lifts, two high-power water pumps, fire-fighting unit and building insurance.
The BMC-Bhawani Mall, the public-private joint venture, was transferred to the civic body on April 27, 2012.
However, the corporation has so far failed to utilise its share of 76,000sqft office space. It is using only 10,000sqft for its new office and has given 3,000sqft on rent to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
Therefore the company has to maintain the remaining huge portion.
Senior Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) councillor Amaresh Jena said: "The bill slapped by the private builder seems inflated as the corporation is the owner of the land and the portion of the office complex owned by the civic body has been lying vacant since 2012."
"We have been writing to the BMC regarding the common area maintenance charges since 2012, but they have never responded. Since 2012, the monthly charge at the rate of Rs 4,60,776 per month has been accumulating. Meanwhile, the service charges have become 14 per cent from 12.36 per cent in 2012," managing director of the Bhawani Constructions Private Limited Ashok Lakhotia said.
He said the allegation of inflated billing was 'baseless'.
While the civic body is still struggling to put its property on rent, the private builder has been successful in selling and renting out more than 90 per cent of its office space in the mall.
Chairman of the BMC standing committee on taxation and finance Seikh Nizammudin said: "Apart from security charges, common area maintenance costs should be shared by both the private builder and the civic body. So the bill should be revised."
An official of the private builder said the company had requested the BMC several times to divide the maintenance charge between the two parties but there has been no response from them.
BMC's executive engineer Ashok Kumar Parida said: "The private partner has given us a bill for common area maintenance. Once the rate of payment is finalised, steps will be taken to clear it."The company official also threatened that if the civic body failed to resolve the issue they might consider taking the matter to court.
Idco action
The Idco today suspended one official and initiated departmental proceedings against another in connection with the death of upper class contractor Gajendra Das, 57.
Das had allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the roof of the Idco tower on October 20.
