The Times of India           05.02.2014

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to submit Rs 2k-cr draft budget

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is expected to submit the Rs 2,000-crore draft budget to the standing committee for approval on February 11.

Municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi said, "The code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections is expected to come into force at the end of this month. The civic body wants the draft budget to come up for approval at the general body meeting to be held on February 20. The administration needs to table the draft budget before the standing committee on February 11 and if the committee approves it on the same day, we can table it at the general body meeting."

But if the approval takes time, the administration will have to convene a special general body meeting for approval.

Pardeshi said the draft budget will consist of two parts: the civic body's draft budget and the draft budget for works under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The budget for the current fiscal had an outlay of Rs 1,926 crore with carry forward balance of around Rs 70-80 crore.

"There is always natural growth of 10% in the annual budget every year so the draft budget for 2014-15 may have an outlay of around Rs 2,200 crore. But the civic body is expecting a deficit of Rs 325 crore in local body tax (LBT) which we plan to reduce to Rs 175 crore by increasing the income of building permission and property tax departments," Pardeshi said. He said the total income of the civic body in this fiscal is expected to be around Rs 1,700 crore and it will be difficult to have a budget with an outlay of Rs 2,200 crore.

He said there were only a few JNNURM projects that needed to be completed and they include development of bus rapid transit system (BRTS) routes, housing scheme for economically weaker sections and slum rehabilitation projects.