Cuttack, July 31: Peeved over alleged indifference of the municipal corporation, Malgodown traders have taken the legal route for proper civic facilities at the largest wholesale mandi in the state.

The Cuttack Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella organisation of Malgodown traders, has filed a petition in Orissa High Court questioning the propriety of collection of holding tax and trade licence fee by the civic body.

They have questioned it on the ground that the civic body did not have the right to collect taxes if it failed to resolve their problems.

The traders have also challenged the decision to charge users' fee for collecting garbage generated from the commercial establishments in Malgodown.

They had submitted a memorandum to the mayor on May 12 and another to the municipal commissioner on May 27. But the pleas allegedly did not yield any results.

Secretary of Chamber of Commerce B.K. Mohanty told The Telegraph: "No steps were taken to solve our problems. We were left with no option but to turn to the high court."

The Chamber of Commerce had filed a petition in the high court on July 20 and followed up with another miscellaneous petition for a stay order on collection of holding tax, trade licence fee and users' fee from the traders till proper civic facilities are provided at Malgodown. However, the petitions have not been listed for hearing so far.

"The Cuttack Municipal Corporation collects nearly Rs 50 lakh every year from the traders as trade licence fee and holding tax. While the annual trade licence fee has been increased from Rs 75 to Rs 2,000 this year, the commercial establishments have to shell out on an average Rs 2,000 as holding tax," Mohanty said.

Mohanty said: "Besides, traders are now being asked to pay users' fee of Rs 1,000 per 1,000 sqft for waste collection. We have challenged the collection of the users' fee in our petition on the ground that when waste management is incorporated in the holding tax, why impose an extra fee?"

The traders hope to get relief on the issue of users' fee as the high court had issued an interim stay order on March 16 in a case pertaining to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. The Confederation of Citizens Association (Bhubaneswar) had filed the petition.

The Malgodown area is spread over 25 acres, 80 per cent of which belongs to the railways. The traders had sought urgent measures to improve the drainage system.

The joint secretary of Cuttack Chamber of Commerce Prafulla Chatoi had said: "Most of the drains are defunct as they need repair. As all the drains are choked, discharge of wastewater is a major problem. During the rainy season the situation worsens. With choked drains the rain water inundates the godowns."

Mayor Meenakshi Behera told The Telegraph today: "We have initiated steps to address the civic shortcomings at Malgodown."

The traders had also urged for construction six to seven new toilets in the Malgodown area for the convenience of the public. Another joint secretary of the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce Prasant Patra had said: "The couple of toilets built years ago have become defunct since a long time. More than 10,000 people from Odisha and outside the state come to Malgodown every day. They face lot of problems without toilets in the entire area."

Chairman of the civic body standing committee for sanitation Ranjan Kumar Biswal said: "New public toilets at Malgodown will be ready within by end of another month."