Funds crunch a big concern: Outgoing SDMC commissioner

The outgoing Commissioner of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Puneet Kumar Goel, at his farewell function on Friday said that “the last six months of his tenure were difficult due to a financial crunch in the SDMC.”

Goel, a 1991 batch IAS officer, has been transferred to Goa as per an order of the ministry of home affairs, after completing a tenure of four-and-a-half years in the SDMC.

While the north and east Delhi municipal corporations suffered a budget deficit earlier, the south corporation has also fallen on hard times with the implementation of the 5th Delhi Finance Commission’s (DFC) recommendations. The devolution of funds from central taxes to it has been drastically curtailed.

“If this financial situation continues, next year will also be very difficult for the SDMC. It feels really bad to refuse money to the political leadership, the councillors of SDMC and their files getting stuck cause of that. But currently, we are unable to carry out new developmental works and only being able to pay salaries. Ideally, no institution is supposed to function like that,” he said.

He congratulated the Department of Assessor and Collector for recovering a record ₹950 crore in property tax. He also appreciated the efforts of the Remunerative Projects Cell for earning ₹150 crore through advertisement revenue only.

As per the third finance commission, the SDMC got ₹1,067.88 crore in the non-plan head and ₹490.93 crore in the plan head from the Delhi Government in 2018-19. But under the fifth DFC’s recommendations, it will get only ₹338.02 crore in the non-plan head and about ₹600 crore under the plan head.

However, for undertaking projects under the plan head, the SDMC will have to give a recommendation to the Delhi government, defining its purpose.

First Published: Jun 08, 2019 03:49 IST