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One-Stop Shop For Utilities By X'mas,All In One Mall Where One Can Pay Property Tax,Book A Gas Etc.

By ugesh sarkar, Section Development
Posted on Fri Jul 11, 2008 at 05:11:57 AM EST

Come Christmas, the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) will gift the city a mall that promises to be a one-stop shop where you can pay your property tax, submit an application for BSNL broadband, book an LPG cylinder and even buy railway tickets.

The second floor of the sprawling VIP Market in Kankurgachhi will be converted into the proposed Citizens' Mall, a first for a city that has dedicated malls for various products but none for essential services. If the venture succeeds, the civic authorities intend to open such malls across the city.

Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay said three more service malls in Jadavpur, Behala and Kasba were on the drawing board. " We are searching for land in those places."

The Kankurgachhi project will be a joint venture with private companies. The CMC will at first utilise the 18,000-sq-feet floor space that has been vacant in VIP Market since 1994. As many as 10 more floors will be added after the civic body enters into agreements with private parties.

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Only official utilities like a counter for payment of property tax, one for approval of building plans and another for registration of births and deaths will be available in the beginning. Telecom service providers and power and gas supply agencies will be given space to set up counters after the addition of extra floors.

"We are in discussions with BSNL, CESC and other consumer service providers and they have all agreed to collaborate with us. Citizens will not have to pay anything extra for the services they can avail themselves of at Citizens' Mall," Bandyopadhyay said.

The reason why the CMC has chosen VIP Market for the city's first such mall is the fact that the G+2 structure has a plinth that can take the weight of 13 floors.

Private parties will maintain the air-conditioned mall.

Source: The Telegraph 11/July/2008

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