(Representational)
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (LMC) House Thursday approved a proposed Budget of Rs 1,044 crore for 2020-21. The Budget, approved by the House, will be sent to the Punjab government for the final nod.
The Budget meeting at MC Headquarters (Zone-A) was concluded within an hour and no detailed discussions on budgetary provisions was held by the councillors.
For 2020-21, the civic body is is expecting to mop up Rs 460 crore from GST share, Rs 130 crore from house tax and property tax, Rs 150 crore ‘loan’ income from Legacy Waste project, Rs 90 crore from O&M cell (water and sewage), Rs 39 crore from additional excise duty, Rs 45 crore from MC tax on electricity, Rs 10 crore by selling properties, Rs 23 crore from advertisement tax, and Rs 52 crore from miscellaneous sources among others.
For expenditures, the civic body has proposed to spend 62.17 per cent of its expected income on development works and other committed expenditures, 35.44 per cent on establishment and 2.39 per cent on contingency expenditures.
The main development works proposed include new parks (Rs 10 crore), new machinery (Rs 15 crore), roads (Rs 48 crore), bridges (Rs 15 crore), streets and drains (Rs 40 crore), street lights (Rs 2 crore), development of slums (Rs 2 crore) and libraries and public toilets (Rs 10 crore).
A separate sum of Rs 77.50 crore has been allocated for maintenance of roads and other civic infrastructure.
During the meeting, Leader of Opposition and SAD councillor Harbhajan Singh Dang asked why the MC was taking loan instead of insisting the state government to release the pending dues of GST installments and excise duty.
Congress Councillor Gurpreet Gogi said that the responsibility should be fixed for shifting stray cattle from the roads as it is leading to fatal accidents. He also questioned the quality of chemicals being used in fogging machines to control mosquitoes in dengue season and said that it is proving to be least effective. He also demanded that firefighters be provided proper uniforms, safety gear and modern fire tenders.
Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu claimed that the central government is yet to release the GST share due to which MC’s dues were also pending.
Council Sunny Bhalla demanded that proper arrangements be made to fight coronavirus and masks be provided to all MC employees including sanitary workers and sweepers. He added that if need be, councillors can donate their one month salary to make arrangements for coronavirus awareness.
Congress MLA Rakesh Pandey asked why no details were provided about cow cess, which MC collects from residents.
Last year, the civic body had passed an estimated budget of Rs 949.65 crore but the government had given final approval for Rs 846.13 crore only. Later, MC further revised it to Rs 821.90 crore. It has failed to meet income target and generated Rs 384.35 crore only till December 31, 2019.