Rent worth Rs. 2 crore for municipal shopping complexes pending in Mancherial

Traders who were allotted the shops in the tendering process should pay rents every month as per norms of the civic body. However, rents were not paid regularly, affecting income of the municipality.

Mancherial: Rentals worth about Rs 2 crore of shopping complexes belonging to the Mancherial municipality are pending for quite a long time.

Mancherial municipality has 55 shops in different parts of the town with variations in rents. Tenders were invited to rent out the shops on a basis of charge for 10 months. Traders who were allotted the shops in the tendering process should pay rents every month as per norms of the civic body. However, rents were not paid regularly, affecting income of the municipality.

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Officials said that rents of the shops around Rs 1.85 crore were yet to be cleared. An educational institution, which hired a floor of the shopping complex, owes Rs 61.33 lakh till August. Tenants who occupied shops classed as ‘A’ type need to pay arrears of Rs.23.10 lakh, while shops categorized as ‘B’ type account for arrears of Rs.43.56 lakh.

The authorized tenants are making fast bucks by allegedly renting the shops to other traders. They are collecting the rent from the occupants of the shops, but not paying it to the municipality. They are reportedly using the funds for their personal needs and intentionally not showing interest to clear the arrears.

“The tenants are able to earn a huge income by renting the shops to others. They are not responding to notices issued by the officials of the civic body over the delay in payments of rents. The officials are focused on collecting property tax rather than rent of the shopping complexes. As a result, earnings of the municipality are declining,” a councilor said.

When asked, municipal commissioner A Maruthi Prasad said a section of tenants paid rents after the municipality exerted pressure. Still, a major portion of tenants have dues. However, a three-member committee was formed to collect the rent from the legal renters and to clear arrears. No other duties were assigned to the staffers who were members of the committee.