The Hindu              12.02.2014

Infrastructure gets focus in municipality budget

Staff Reporter

Rs.12.24-crore surplus budget presented for 2014-15 fiscal in Municipal Council

The vice chairperson of Palakkad municipality, M. Saheeda, presented a Rs.12.24-crore surplus budget for 2014-15 financial year at the council meeting held here on Tuesday.

The budget presented by her showed an estimated total earning of Rs.144.27 crore and expenditure of Rs.132.02 crore for the next financial year.

The budget proposed to take up 14 major works in the next financial year. A sum of Rs.2 crore would be spent for the construction of the Palakkad Development Authority complex; Rs.94 lakh for the modernisation of slaughter houses; Rs.50 lakh for the renovation of municipal parks; Rs.75 lakh for construction a gas based crematorium at Vazhakadavu-Jainemdu; Rs.10 lakh for completion of Kallikkad Khabarstan; Rs.20 lakh for construction of Anganwadis; Rs.15 lakh for drinking water supply; Rs.10 lakh for the renovation of Town Hall Annex; Rs.20 lakh for the construction of quarters for municipal employees. In her budget speech, Mrs. Saheeda said that four major development works of the municipality was approved by State government and recommended it to the Central government for financial assistance.

Recommended projects

The projects recommended by the State government are Rs. 36.9 crore for constructing the third phase of the drinking water supply scheme; Rs.16.87 crore for the development of Melamuri market; Rs.13.03 crore for drainage construction and Rs.5 crore for renovation of municipal roads.

The budget also promised to set up a new waste management plant to tackle the problem of solid waste management.

The budget also proposed to take up with financial assistance from the State government the construction of flyovers at Court Road-PHO road in Sultanpet and at Fort Maidan-Civil Station road to ease the traffic congestion in the town. The presentation of the budget was objected to by members of the BJP. Its leader in the council, N. Sivarajan, said that Ms. Saheeda had no right to present a budget under a chairman against whom a no-confidence motion was moved by her and other councillors..

Palakkad municipality had recently created history when the ruling UDF moved a no-confidence motion against its own chairman Abdul Khoodose.

But the no-confidence motion could not be discussed for want of support from councillors.

The Indian Express              06.02.2014

This year, civic budget may touch Rs 30,000-cr mark

For the financial year 2014-2015, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budget may reach the Rs 30,000-crore mark. According to sources, the budget may be raised to accommodate rising costs and utilise the currently underspent fiscal budget of Rs 27,578.67 crore for 2013-2014.

“In 2013, a new unified schedule of rates for works was introduced in the BMC. This has raised the estimated costs of works by over 10 per cent. Moreover, in many departments, the budget has remained underutilised, so funds from these will be carried forward. Focus areas will include reconstruction and repair, water supply, open spaces, and education,” a source said.

Following a spate of building collapses in 2013, especially the Dockyard Road building collapse of September 27, sources said a large portion of the budget would be directed towards reconstruction and repairs of civic buildings.
“For the next two to three years, the budget will focus on the reconstruction and repairs of all dilapidated buildings in Mumbai. Expenditure for this will be based on structural audit reports,” a senior civic official said.

The BMC will direct a major portion of its resources for enhancing water supply. This will include allocations for the Gargai-Pinjal dam project and the Water Distribution Improvement Programme (WDIP). “We are not going to introduce free water supply in Mumbai; it’s not feasible. We are first concerned with improving the supply network in Mumbai. People would rather pay for guaranteed water supply than bear with irregular or weak supply,” another senior official said.

Sources added that Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte has also written to the state government to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act so that illegal structures, including slums and buildings, are allowed to avail of civic water supply.

The forthcoming budget, in a new trend, is also expected to have more funds for ward-wise improvement of public amenities.

After focusing on public health, in the next fiscal, public education in municipal schools will be funded heavily. “We are planning to expand the scope of municipal school education to include pre-primary classes and high-school classes. We will also increase the number of English-medium schools,” a source said.