Civic bodies including the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) owe ₹39.84 crore in Library Cess to the Krishna Zilla Grandhalaya Samstha (ZGS).
The dues have been accumulating since the 2012-13 financial year, leaving libraries struggling for funds.
VMC alone owes 62.72% (₹24.99 crore) of the total library cess that is to be paid by all the civic bodies for the period of 2012-13 till the end of this financial year.
In a joint review meeting convened in Vijayawada by Krishna District Collector A. Md. Imtiaz and Joint Collector-2 K. Mohan Kumar on Thursday, Mr. Imtiaz directed all the civic bodies to pay half of the pending dues to the ZGS by February-end.
The other civic bodies that owe library cess to the ZGS are: Gudiwada Municipality (₹1.25 crore), Pedana Municipality (₹9.5 lakh), Nuzvid Municipality (₹52 lakh), Tiruvuru Municipality (₹25 lakh) and Jaggayyapeta Municipality (₹5.97 lakh).
The Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation and Vuyyuru Nagar Panchayat, however, do not have any pending dues.
Panchayats in the Vijayawada Revenue Division alone are yet to pay ₹8.17 crore towards library cess. The ZGS is also yet to get the library cess from panchayats in Machilipatnam Revenue Division (₹1.14 crore), Gudiwada Revenue Division (₹93.39 lakh) and Nuzvid Revenue Division (₹2.69 crore).
What is library cess
Library cess is the eight paisa that civic bodies including panchayats have to pay to the ZGS for every rupee in property tax collected by them. The library cess thus collected from the civic bodies is the only source of revenue for the ZGS. The funds thus collected are spent on improving its infrastructure facilities, adding to its catalogue and maintainin the libraries across the district.
Krishna District Joint Collector K. Madhavilatha, ZGS secretary M.V. Nagesh and officials of various civic bodies and Panchayat Raj department were present.
