Property tax increase to be lesser in added areas of Chennai Corpn
Even as property owners residing in the extended zones of the Chennai Corporation have been disgruntled for more than a decade for having to pay property tax at higher rates than core city zones, the civic body has decided to keep the increase factor in those zones lower than the core city zones during the ongoing revision.
According to a Chennai Corporation resolution, passed on Monday, during the property tax revision taken up in 2018, several objections were received from the residents of the added zones. Following this, a committee of city engineers and revenue officials was constituted in April. “The committee has recommended that basic street
rates in added areas be kept lesser than the basic street rates of nearby core city areas,” the resolution stated.
For the residential buildings upto 600 sqft, the increase factor in core city zones will be 1.50 while the increase factor in added zones will be 1.25. Similarly, the increase factors for residential buildings between 601 sqft to 1200 sqft will be 1.75 and 1.50 respectively.
For the residential buildings between 1201 sqft to 1800 sqft, the increase factor in core city zones will be 2 while the increase factor in added zones will be 1.75. Similarly, the increase factors for the residential buildings more than 1801 sqft, will be 2.50 and 2 respectively.
Meanwhile, the civic body has received 38 objections and suggestions from the residents on the proposed property tax revision and the civic body will send its response to the people at the earliest.
In a move to improve the quality of care in the hospitals run by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), the civic body has decided to constitute multi-level committees to conduct quality inspections in health care facilities, which is one of several action plans proposed. A resolution has been passed in the council meeting on Monday.
According to the resolution, there are 140 urban primary health centres and 16 urban community health centres in the city and around 32,000 persons are benefitted every day. Measures have been taken to increase the number of beneficiaries by 10%.
“Committees at various levels will be constituted to monitor the quality of services. The first level committees will be formed at hospitals and second level committees will be formed as steering committees. Third and fourth level committees will be formed at zonal and city levels. Apart from these, community level committees will also be formed,” the resolution said.
Additionally, the GCC will launch a mentorship programme by appointing mentors, who’d inspect hospitals and help the management to rectify shortcomings in quality of services. In total, 90 doctors and paramedical staff will be trained as mentors.
Operational procedures will be standardised and a standard operating procedure will be framed. Training sessions will be conducted for the staff periodically. Also, awards will be given to best employee every year. It will target receiving national-level quality certificates for all the hospitals and self-evaluate quality of services.
“The action plans have been devised as a part of Chennai City Partnership initiative that’s implemented with the World Bank assistance,” the resolution said.
It may be noted that the civic body had already constituted a committee in January 2021 to propose measures to be taken to improve the quality of care in hospitals run by the Corporation.