MC okays Rs 134.97-cr Budget

Gagan K. Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 26

The Congress-led Patiala Municipal Corporation presented its first Budget on Monday. It does not include any new taxes. The General House unanimously approved the Rs 134.97-crore Budget within minutes. Moreover, it is for the first time in 15 years that the MC has decided not to sell its properties in order to generate revenue for the corporation. During the previous SAD-BJP House, the MC used to earmark Rs 20 crore by selling the corporation property.

This is for the first time that the corporation has removed the donation column from the Budget. While the Budget for most of the branches continues to be the same, the corporation has decided to double the revenue generated from outdoor advertising.

A total of 62 per cent of the income would be spent on the corporation and 36 per cent will be used for carrying out development works within municipal limits.

The Budget presented on Monday shows an income of Rs 134.97 crore, which mainly comes from instalments of Goods and Service Tax and additional excise duty. The corporation will generate from Rs 50 crore from GST and excise duty. Moreover, they have set a target of Rs 22.50 crore from property tax and house tax arrears.

Moreover, Rs 13 crore will be collected by giving property rights to tenants on collector rates who are sitting on the property of the corporation for the past two decades. A total of 350 families will be able to get advantage from it and this will draw huge revenue for the corporation as these tenants were paying negligible rent for the past 20 years.

Also, Rs 15 crore will be gathered as building application fee, Rs 14 crore from water supply and sanitation charges. While Rs 4.35 crore will be collected from outdoor advertising, and Rs 4.55 crore will be gathered from various taxes, including road cutting charges, plot registration, entertainment tax and licence fee.

A major portion of this income i.e. Rs 85 crore will be spent on paying salaries and pensions to its employees, while Rs 2.70 crore has been earmarked as contingency bills. Moreover, Rs 47.37 crore will be spent on various development works.

Patiala Mayor Sanjeev Bittu said: “This Budget does not include Rs 100-crore grant given by the Punjab Government for the development of Patiala city and we will ensure that this target is met well in time”.

MC Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira said they had tried their level best to generate adequate revenue and curtail the expenses for the smooth functioning of the corporation.

MC fails in income generation

The Patiala Municipal Corporation has miserably failed in income generation during the last fiscal i.e. 2017-18. The corporation has achieved only about 50 per cent of the targeted income. Last year, against the proposed income of Rs 127.04 crore, the civic body has generated only about Rs 62 crore. For instance, against a target of Rs 18 crore from property tax and arrears, the corporation had collected only Rs 13.45 crore by February-end. Moreover, the Building Department has been able to collect only Rs 6.11 crore against the target of Rs 15 crore. As a result, the civic body is in a tight spot and is even struggling to pay salaries and pensions of its employees and superannuated employees, respectively.