The Hindu        21.11.2014  

East Delhi civic body financially unviable, says commissioner

Increasing deficits and falling revenues were the highlights of East Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Manish Gupta’s budget presentation on Thursday.

Mr. Gupta began his presentation of the revised budget estimates for 2014-2015 and budget estimates for 2015-2016 by emphasising the precarious financial condition of the EDMC. The civic body has been struggling to pay salaries of employees for months.

The civic body’s deficit for 2014-2015 was revised from Rs.468.34 crore to Rs.612.33 crore, which is expected to increase to Rs.682.07 crore. The Commissioner said the EDMC was not sustainable and would need huge grants from the government to survive.

“There is an inherent and systemic problem in the EDMC’s finances. The revenue generation cannot match the expenditure,” said Mr. Gupta, who is also the commissioner of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

He said the revenue potential of the EDMC was less than its North and South Delhi counterparts. East Delhi does not have top category colonies, where property tax rates are higher. South Delhi, in comparison, has many such colonies and has more ‘lucrative’ spots in terms of advertising and parking revenue.

Mr. Gupta demanded that the Delhi Government fulfil the budgetary shortfall and write off past loans as grants. “We are demanding a Rs.600 crore subsidy per year from the Delhi Government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the budget proposals included increasing revenue by hiking the base unit area value for property tax assessment by 45 per cent and introducing new cesses like professional and betterment taxes. But, even if these are implemented, the hikes will not dent the deficit, said the Commissioner.

There is an inherent and systemic problem in the EDMC’s finances. The revenue generation cannot match the expenditure”

“There is an inherent and systemic problem in the EDMC’s finances. The revenue generation cannot match the expenditure”