Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is preparing a report on the revenue it earns from plots it had given on lease, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Tuesday.
Hakim said the KMC earned a meagre revenue from 733 such properties.
He promised to make the report public by presenting it before all councillors at their monthly meeting.
“Large commercial properties have come up on land leased out by the KMC. Many of these plots were given on lease during the Left Front rule. The properties earn a lot but the revenue the KMC earns from them is meagre,” Hakim said at a meeting of the civic house.
Many of these properties, he said, are located along EM Bypass.
“I have asked for a report on the number of such properties.”
The mayor made the statements in reply to a question from a councillor on the revenue earned by the civic body from plots leased out or handed to trusts.
The KMC board was run by Trinamul from 2000 to 2005.
It has been running the board again since 2010. It was not immediately clear when the properties were leased out.
Hakim, however, said there was no way to increase the revenue from such properties as the KMC had to honour the lease agreements.
“We have to wait for the lease period to be over before we can set new terms and earn more revenue from such properties,” he said.
An architect said most of the plots along the Bypass were full of waste when they were leased out.
“These were landfill sites. The plots were redone with a lot of effort and investment. New structures came up. This was urban regeneration. Calling the rent very low after so many years seems a little illogical,” he said.
Children injured
Two schoolchildren got injured on their way home after their pool car hit a bus in Behala in southwest Kolkata on Tuesday.
The students, aged 7 and 10, were treated at Vidyasagar State General Hospital.
“Two kids in the pool car were fighting. The driver got distracted and turned his head towards the back seat and hit the bus,” a police officer said.
The accident happened at the crossing of Diamond Harbour Road and Banamali Naskar Road around noon. Both the vehicles have been seized.