Civic body proposes Rs1,348-crore Budget

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

The local MC today proposed a Rs 1,348-crore Budget for the 2020-21 fiscal. While Rs 436 crore has been proposed under the capital head, Rs 912 crore will fall under the revenue head. The estimates, with minor changes, will be sent to the UT Administration.

The corporation has kept a major chunk of funds for roads — Rs 100 crore. Recarpeting work has been pending for a long time, resulting in potholes and broken roads at different places in the city.

The MC, which already had nine UT villages under it, got 13 more when these were merged with it around a year ago. However, their development has been an issue. Focusing on this aspect, Rs 27 crore has been proposed for the development of these villages. Besides, Rs 23.50 crore has been earmarked for the development of colonies.

There will also be focus on e-office for which Rs 10 crore has been proposed. This will help the MC reduce its expenditure as it won’t be required to engage a major workforce. It will have online “filing of files and all services will be online”. The move is aimed at stopping backdoor recruitments through outsourcing.

Also, more field staff will get vehicles in the next fiscal. A total of 12 enforcement sub-inspectors and eight chief sanitary inspectors will get official vehicles. A total of 350 vehicles will be bought for the office of the Medical Officer of Health, which is involved in sanitation and lifting of waste. An amount of Rs 38 crore has been proposed for the job.

The MC is also planning to renovate public toilets for which Rs 6 crore has been proposed. To expand the capacity of tertiary treated water, an amount of Rs 10.50 crore has been proposed.

Generation of funds

As far as generating its own revenue is concerned, the MC, at present, has an income of Rs 200 crore per annum from its own sources. In the next fiscal, it hopes to increase it to Rs 300 crore. An amount of nearly Rs 150 crore is expected to be generated from the water tariff, while Rs 35 crore is likely to come by way of commercial tax and Rs 13 crore from house tax. Besides, it will earn from parking lots and unipoles too.

For the current fiscal, the civic body had proposed a Rs 1,260-crore Budget, but it got only Rs 375 crore grant-in-aid. The MC barely has funds to pay salaries to the staff.

Fourth Delhi Finance Commission holds key

Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore had written to the Centre asking it to grant funds to the corporation based on the recommendations of the 4th Delhi Finance Commission.

If the recommendations are approved by the Centre, the MC will get about Rs 1,024 crore grant in the annual Budget. Otherwise it will have to again remain cash-starved.

The Finance Commission, in its report submitted in 2014, had recommended an increase in the MC’s share in the UT revenue from the current 17.5 per cent to 30 per cent.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.