A caller to the weekly phone-in programme Talk to Mayor on Friday spoke about his inability to pay a "purdah licence fee".
Kolkata's mayor was stumped. So were many of the senior civic officials around him. "Purdah fee?"
Hakim, gobsmacked for a few moments, said he had been a councillor for 25 years but he was unaware of something called a purdah licence.
A handful of officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), among those present in the room where Hakim was answering calls from Kolkatans, knew about the fee.
They told the mayor it is a fee that the civic body collects for the construction of awnings in commercial establishments like stores and cafes.
"Many stores build shades outside to protect windows and doorways from heat and rain. These shades are called purdah and the KMC collects a fee for the construction of such purdahs outside stores. This is the purdah licence fee," an official explained while Hakim kept grinning.
The awnings can be made of canvas, tin or other materials. Many stores erect a board with the name of the store written on it in a manner that it extends a few feet above the footpath. They, too, are supposed to pay the fee, said one official.
“The shades or awnings are an extension outside the stores and are above footpaths, which is a public space. The KMC charges the store owners for the awnings as these extend outside the store area for which they pay a trade licence fee,” a KMC official told The Telegraph.
The purdah licence fee has been in vogue since pre-Independence days, the official said.
The civic body used to employ "bailiffs", who would go around the city and identify stores with awnings. The bailiffs would then approach the owners and ask them to pay a purdah licence fee for the awnings.
The bailiffs would measure the size of an awning and fix the fee. The trader would come over to the civic body's office and pay.
There is still a fee structure for awnings and it increases with the width of the road facing the store, said an official.
Over time, bailiffs were replaced by inspectors. It was not immediately clear if the KMC still has any position by the name of bailiff.
"Till 2021, all trade licence renewal was done offline and we collected about Rs 50 lakh from the purdah licence fee. As the online system was introduced, the collection from the purdah licence fee dropped. There is no option to pay this fee online," said a KMC official.
The official said that in 2022-23, the KMC collected about Rs 15 lakh from the purdah fee. Those who still pay the trade licence fee by visiting a KMC office pay the fee for the awnings, too.
"We will make the process easier for traders to pay the fee," Hakim later said.
"I have been a councillor for 25 years but I never heard of something called a purdah licence fee," he said aloud after the caller expressed inability to pay the fee.
An official said there are plans to introduce online payment of the purdah licence fee. "If we can ensure that all stores with awnings pay the fee, we can collect close to Rs 5 crore from the purdah licence fee. It will boost our revenue. But we do not have enough inspectors to check stores for awnings," said the official.