Visakhapatnam Civic Body Earns Rs 1.10 Bn from Online Approvals

03 Jan 2025 CW Team

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) approved 3,385 building plan applications through its online building permission management system in 2024-25, generating an income of Rs 1.10 billion. GVMC Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari and Commissioner P Sampath Kumar stated that the civic body also processed 2,738 applications through the layout regularisation scheme.

They mentioned that 2,686 of these cases were resolved, generating Rs 650.71 million in revenue. The officials also noted that work was on-going on 15 master plan roads covering 84.84 kilometres across the city. GVMC set a property tax collection target of Rs 4.70 billion for 2024-25, with Rs 2.84 billion collected by December 16. Under the early bird offer, property taxpayers were given a 5 per cent discount, which resulted in Rs 1.18 billion in revenue for GVMC in just one month (April). The new property tax assessments led to an increase of Rs 300 million in demand. Mayor Hari Kumari urged property taxpayers to pay on time to assist in the city's development.

Sampath Kumar, Commissioner, mentioned that the civic body's efforts in sanitation management had been recognised by the state government. He added that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had presented the ‘Swachh Bhagidari’ award to GVMC on October 2. He also highlighted that GVMC had received the first-place award for providing loans to street vendors under the PM Svamitva Scheme. He informed that, to make the city plastic-free, GVMC would implement a ban on single-use plastics starting January 1.

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