Corporation-owned shops at Choudhury Bazaar in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Jan. 14: Tenants of shops owned by municipal corporation are facing the music as they have not cleared their dues.

“As part of the plan, market complexes — where shops are not being used and rents not paid — are the first to be targeted. Measures have also been initiated to cancel the allotments and rent out the shops afresh,” commissioner of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation Gyana Ranjan Das told The Telegraph today.

“The Biju Patnaik Market Complex at Tulsipur has been taken up first for cancellation of allotment of shops that are not being used and rents not paid. Fresh allotments would be made immediately,” Das said.

Official sources said 43 shops had been allotted at the market complex. But, rents had not been received from the tenants of 38 shops since possession was given to them in January 2005.

Similar is the case with the Potapokhari Market Complex at Naya Bazar. No rents had been received from tenants of all the 24 shops since they were given possession in July 2008.

The civic body had rented out 800-odd shops at 28 places. Around 350 shop occupants were not paying rents.

At Badambadi, tenants of 20 out of 24 shops had not paid rents since they took possession more than 10 years ago (between 2001 and 2006).

The civic body’s standing committee for licence and appeal is of the view that the corporation has been short of meeting the targeted rent income in the past years due to its failure to collect arrears.

“Non-payment of rent by a large number of tenants has been taking a huge toll on the civic body’s earnings,” said standing committee head Bikash Ranjan Behera.

“Efforts are under way to streamline collection of rents from the tenants. Notices in the form of ultimatums were issued to the rent-evading occupants. Process has started for eviction of the defaulting tenants in a phased manner,” Behera said.

The civic body has been setting an annual target to collect Rs 20 lakh to Rs 21 lakh in rent from the shops.

But, only around 60 per cent of the target has been achieved in the past four years. In the last fiscal, it was less than Rs 13 lakh.