The budget estimates for 2019-2020 of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) was passed on Friday after being discussed by the BEST committee for nearly nine hours.
The final budget had ₹1 lakh surplus with expenses estimated at ₹6,124.81 crore. The revised deficit was pegged at ₹769 crore.
According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the BEST’s budget needs to show at least ₹1 lakh as surplus. The transport and power supply undertaking has had a deficit budget for the last two financial years and has bridged the deficit with an expected grant from the BMC. This year’s budget also was passed with the a BMC grant to match the budget.
Deepavali bonus added
The deficit of the budget was increased by ₹49.14 crore from the earlier estimate of around ₹720 crore to ₹769.53 crore after the committee members slammed the administration for not representing the accurate budget. A new head for the Deepavali bonus was created with a token allocation of ₹1 crore. Over ₹48 crore is on account of nutrition cess to be paid to the government.
Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party had staged a walkout on the first day of the budget on the issue of Deepavali bonus for its employees. The BEST has had two of its bank accounts frozen due to the non-payment of road tax and nutritional cess since 2010.
“Among the many recommendations we made to the administration we have asked them to write to the Chief Minister requesting him to ask the Municipal Commissioner to give BEST ₹594 crore sanctioned by the BMC,” Sunil Ganacharya, BJP corporator, said.
“In all other States in the country and the world over, public transport is supported by the State government or local bodies. The BEST too needs to be supported by the BMC,” Mr. Ganacharya said. The committee members requested the administration to upgrade the transport wing and quickly find resolutions to pending issues such as electronic ticket vending machines and the wet leasing of buses.
The budget is expected to be presented before the BMC standing committee next week, which will have to pass the budget for the grant to be sanctioned.