Infrastructure projects move at snail's pace

Chennai: Several infrastructure projects and government schemes mooted by the government will progress at snail pace as revenue to the state exchequer is badly hit post demonetisation and there are no signs of recovery, a top TN official told Deccan Chronicle.

While the municipal corporations and local bodies have increased their property tax and water tax revenue by collecting taxes through scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, departments like commercial tax, registration and transport have lost huge revenue earnings in the past one month.

Meanwhile traders also admit that construction and business opportunities have taken a huge plunge since November. This week, the state incurred a revenue loss of Rs 150 crore due to demonetisation and the closure of liquor shops following the demise of CM Jayalalithaa.

There are no signs of developmental activities. Even land registration and new connections for drinking water, electricity and building plans have come down by more than 50 per cent, the official said.

“For every month there will be 10 to 20 applications seeking new drinking water and drainage connections from building owners and this number had dwindled across all 200 wards in Chennai,” said a senior metro water engineer adding that by accepting old currency notes the metro water has raked in a revenue of '20 crore extra during the month of November, he added.

The realty sector has taken a big hit post demonetisation. All hardware stores dealing with plumbing and construction materials have reported a dip in their sales and the wholesale dealers in Parrys have not placed fresh stock orders from north India, said S. Rajkumar, a wholesale trader in Puraswalkam.