The Indian Express                 04.05.2013

Civic body moots Rs 616-cr budget, discussion today

It's less than the budget approved last time

The Municipal Corporation has prepared a budget of Rs 616 crore for the financial year 2013-14 which is less than the budget approved for the current financial year. The budget will come up for discussion at a meeting of the Finance and Contract Committee to be held on Monday. Once approved by the F&CC, it will be presented before the General House for final approval.

Last year, the civic body had cleared budget estimates of Rs 812.78 crore. Of this, Rs 467.69 crore were under the plan head and Rs 345.09 crore under the non-plan head.

As per the budget prepared this year, of the total Rs 616 crore, Rs 247.35 crore are under the plan head and Rs 369.25 crore under the non-plan head.

Most of the development works are undertaken under the plan head, which has been proposed to be almost half of what was approved last year. Under most of the heads, the amount proposed to be allocated has been reduced. For roads this year, Rs 60 crore have been proposed to be allocated. During the year 2012-13, under the head of improvement of roads, parking places and infrastructure facilities, an amount of Rs 118 crore had been earmarked.

Around 90 per cent of the budget under the primary health and primary education departments last year remained unutilised. This year, a reduction is proposed in the amount proposed to be allocated. During the financial year 2012-13, the budgetary allocation for primary health was Rs 23.90 crore while for primary education, it was Rs 22.51 crore. For the financial year 2013-14, this has been proposed as Rs 20.20 crore and Rs 15 crore respectively. In case of fire and emergency services, the proposed allocation is Rs 1.10 crore against Rs 2.72 crore last year. For storm water drainage, the proposed amount is Rs 10 crore against Rs 21 crore allocated last year.

Councillor Arun Sood, who is a member of F&CC, said apart from the plan budget being reduced to almost half, the proposed budget showed that the receipts of the MC from various sources were also expected to be reduced. "For property tax, while the expected collection last year was Rs 19 crore, this year it has been reduced to Rs 16 crore. The expected estate receipts have also shown to be reduced," he said.

Over the past few years, the budget being prepared had been similar. Several projects found a mention in each of the budget estimates, but these were not being executed.