Bhubaneswar: In a bid to facilitate easy access to traders and efficient collection of revenue, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Tuesday, introduced online issuance of trade licences.
Developed by Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), individuals seeking trade licences can avail the facility by either directly logging on to Bhubaneswar.me or downloading the app on their phone. A training session in this regard was also given to 67 ward officers and 14 Misc. Sarkars at BMC head office.
“It is quite user friendly. One has to simply log on to Bhubaneswar.me or app and go to the citizen service menu. There one has to go on to ‘Apply Trade License’ before logging in as guest and then filling the application form with all necessary details,” stated a senior BMC official.
Earlier last week, the BMC has launched a drive to check traders for obtaining trade licence and fined about 58 traders who were without trade licences. The three-day drive that was conducted between Laxmi Vihar to Kalinga Hospital Square collected a fine of about Rs 1.22 lakh from the erring traders.
While sources at BMC said that 50 per cent of businesses in the city are estimated to be running without trade licences, traders, however, complained official rigmarole and excessive red-tapism for non-availability of licences.
Accepting the drawbacks of manual issuance of trade license, BMC Additional Commissioner, Suratha Chandra Mallick said, “With limited manpower, the BMC was not able to generate trade licences in stipulated time. However, through Bhubaneswar.me, the licence will now be generated within just 15 days without much paperwork or visit to BMC offices. The move will also increase transparency.”