Punjab rolls back 50% licence fee, exchequer suffers losses

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 21

The state exchequer has suffered a loss of crores of rupees as the Directorate, Local Government, has allowed the rollback of 50 per cent of licence fee being charged from outdoor advertisement contractors while citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Ludhiana cluster alone, the revenue loss to the department during the nine-year contract period could touch Rs 190 crore. In Mohali, the annual revenue loss is likely to be Rs 10.80 crore and in case of Kharar cluster, it could be Rs 20 crore.

Ad contracts: Relief offered for 7 to 9 yrs

Citing the pandemic, relief has been offered to outdoor advertisement contractors for the entire contract period, varying from seven to nine years. In contrast, departments like transport, housing and others had waived government levies either till December 31, 2020, or deferred arrears of taxes, without interest and penalty, till March 31, 2021

What is more startling is that relief has been offered for the entire contract period — varying from seven to nine years. In contrast, departments like transport, housing and others had waived government levies either till December 31, 2020, or deferred arrears of taxes, without interest and penalty, till March 31, 2021.

Most of the outdoor advertising contracts were issued under the Punjab Municipal Outdoor Advertising Policy 2018, framed during the tenure of previous Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. The orders to give pandemic-related relief were issued by previous Director, Local Government, Bhupinder Singh on September 15, 2020, when a number of civic bodies were dissolved and IAS and PCS officers were appointed as administrators.

Explaining the catch, sources said while allowing 50 per cent rollback of the licence fee, there was no clarity on the period of validity of the relief and it was mandated that the beneficiary would be allowed to surrender 50 per cent of the outdoor media sites.

However, on the ground, a number of surrendered sites in different towns were being illegally sold by the contractors, the sources said.

“The department must explain the logic of giving the relief for the entire contract period instead of mentioning specific period. Fingers are already being pointed as the lockdown has already been lifted,” said Manjeet Sethi, former deputy mayor, Mohali Municipal Corporation.

Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra said meetings were held to give Covid-related relief to advertisers. However, he directed the query to Secretary, Local Government, Ajoy Kumar Sinha. “The order was issued prior to my joining the department. Now the matter has been brought to my notice. I will enquire into it and necessary action will be taken,” said the Secretary.

In the September 15 order, the Director had referred to several representations made by contractors handling outdoor advertisement display in the state. As part of the relief, the directorate has also permitted a six-month licence fee waiver, starting from March 24, 2020.