Payment of service charges to the cantonment board delayed
6 Nov, 2013Reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that the central government is yet to pay service charges worth Rs 69.64 crore to the Dehu Road Cantonment Board (CBD). Over the past 30 years, the payment of service charges has been made only once in past 30 years in case of OFDR. As per the reply, the break-up of the outstanding amount is as under:
· Military Engineer Service (MES) - Rs 51.25 crore;
· DRDO owes CBD - Rs 11.35 crore;
· Ordnance Factory Dehu Road (OFDR) - Rs 7.03 crore
In response to an earlier RTI application, it had come to fore that the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) is waiting for the payment of service charges worth Rs 169.9 crore from the Centre.
Service charges are levied on defence establishments by the cantonment boards and are similar to the property taxes. The service charges are crucial for the development projects, such as sewage treatment plants or water treatment projects apart from the local schemes and are based on the area held by the defence establishments.