Visakhapatnam: Much ado about lease of shops under GVMC

Visakhapatnam: Suspense over leasing of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC)-controlled shops continues. While some corporators insist on the corporation to handover the shops back to the same leaseholders, a few others are opposing the proposal and call for re-auction to generate additional revenue for the corporation.

To put an end to the problem, Municipal Commissioner G Srijana and Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari formed a special committee to sort out the contentious issue. About 900 shops fall under the ambit of the corporation. Of them, the lease period for 389 stores had been expired.

Most of the leaseholders skipped paying rent to the GVMC for the past three years. Eventually, the Municipal Commissioner issued notices to such shop operators and seized the outlets. Of them, 113 stores will not be renewed as they are in a dilapidated condition. The GVMC authorities decided to demolish them without extending the lease.

Meanwhile, 143 leaseholders submitted willing letters to GVMC authorities agreeing to clear the three-year-long pending rent arrears and accept an increase of the rent by 33 per cent every three years.

In return, they appealed to the corporation to extend their lease term for another 25 years.

However, it was proposed by a group of corporators at the Standing Committee meeting to collect the pending arrears from all the 143 leaseholders and renew them to the same parties. Most of these shops are located in the heart of the city.

The proposal drew criticism as some corporators objected to it because it was against the norms and failed to generate any additional revenue. Following this, the Mayor formed a sub-committee to deal with the matter. Based on the report from the sub-committee, the next plan of action will be rolled out.

Additionally, corporation authorities identified 187 shops being run by the third parties through sublease. It was decided to collect pending arrears from them and allocate the shops to other parties.

As per the Municipal Act, legal advisors suggested that the shops have to be re-auctioned and allotted to new persons. But it is learnt that some corporators are exerting pressure on the authorities to handover the shops to the same leaseholders.

A section of the corporators argue that a new auction and allotment of shops is sure to generate crores of additional revenue to the GVMC. Sharing these views, Jana Sena corporator Peethala Murthy Yadav says, "The amount of arrears should be collected from the leaseholders.

Similarly, rent should be increased by 33 percent every three years as per the norms. Also, priority should be accorded to generating additional revenue through lease system."

Except the disputed shops at the TSR Complex, the process of public auction is being carried out for the rest of the shops spread across other zones in a phased manner.