In the absence of a database on floor-area use by traders, the new Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) policy of charging trade licence fees according to the size of a shop has come a cropper.

It has also thwarted mayor Subrata Mukherjee?s proclaimed mission of providing relief to the 300,000-odd traders.

Instead, confusion and harassment prevail, apart from a heavy drain on the civic coffer.

Civic licence officials peg revenue earnings from trade licence fees this year at half of last year?s. The CMC earned Rs 40 crore from trade licence fees in 2003-2004. Over the past seven months, the collection has been less than Rs 17 crore.

All along, the monthly rent paid by a business establishment had been the basis of collecting a non-residential user?s fee on trade enlistment in the CMC, up to a limit of Rs 2,500 a year. Mayor Mukherjee, in his new trade licence policy, scrapped the rent-based system and decided to impose tax on the actual floor area utilised in carrying out a business.

By the new rate chart, a shop-owner in a south Calcutta mall, who paid Rs 5,060 as licence fee last year, would have to pay only Rs 360 this year.

A civic licence officer explained that this was because though the shop pays a monthly rent of Rs 17,000, its area is only 160 sq ft.

Similarly, a plastic unit in Bosepukur that paid a licence fee of Rs 3,000 last year will pay only Rs 185 this year, since the floor area is 120 sq ft.

But, in absence of any data on floor area used by traders, the licence officers are calculating the trade licence fee by arbitrarily converting the recorded rent into sq ft.

The result: A big trader in Burrabazar is billed a small amount because of the low and century-old rent amount, while a small new trader is billed a hefty sum because of his high rent.

This is the first time the area of an establishment in sq ft is being written on the trade licence bill. And in most cases, the floor area mentioned in the bill does not tally with the actual figure.

Traders are also facing trouble in getting the bill rectified, as it can only be done at the civic headquarters. Hence, a trader from Gariahat or Behala will have to come all the way to SN Banerjee Road and stand in a long queue to get his bill rectified.

?We have started simplifying the process of calculating trade enlistment fees on the basis of the area of a commercial unit. Some problems are likely to crop up. Once these are sorted out, the entire process will become transparent,? said municipal audit officer Tapas Guha Thakurta, who is also looking after the trade licence drive.