Nagpur: Standing committee chairman Vijay Zalke on Tuesday presented Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Rs2,731 crore budget for 2020-21 with no hike in any tax, and instead proposed waiving penalty in both property tax and water bills for the current fiscal. He has mooted mobile hospitals in 10 zones and mobile mortuaries by reducing allocation of sports and other heads.
Even as the civic administration stares at empty coffers, the standing committee inflated the civic chief’s draft budget by Rs184 crore. This drew sharp criticism from the opposition comprising members from the Shiv Sena and Congress, while the ruling party leaders termed it realistic.
The budget focused on completing pending works, but to pay tributes to martyrs, Zalke has also proposed Vandematram Memorial Garden in West Nagpur and Mathematical Garden in south Nagpur. Zalke also proposed to construct independent police station for NMC to help execute various works like removing encroachments, recovering outstanding tax etc. Currently, NMC face hurdles in these works due to lack of police support.
Zalke also gave a nod to take over projects worth over Rs384 crore which were either sanctioned or in tender process, and stopped by the then municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe citing financial crisis. He announced there would be no requirement of administrative approvals for works from the standing committee. “After receiving letters from the committee, executive engineers from every zone can directly start the work. This would ensure speedy execution and completion of works,” he said.
Mundhe had projected NMC’s income for the current financial year at Rs2,547 crore, while Zalke’s surplus budget includes Rs231 crore of opening balance, while expenditure for the year has been projected at Rs2,730.75 crore.
Though Zalke claimed his budget is for the entire financial year, his remaining tenure is 3.5 months only and municipal commissioner’s revised budget for year 2020-21 will be presented before February 15. Zalke did not follow the footprints of past chairmen and in the last 14 years this was the first time that any standing committee chairman has given lesser civic body budget target.
Following demand from corporators of opposition parties, mayor Sandip Joshi announced that discussion on the budget will be held on Thursday (October 22) when it will be passed, implemented and supersede the budget presented by municipal commissioner.
Failing to find new revenue sources for the cash-strapped NMC, Zalke expects 65% of total revenue, which is Rs1,620.41 crore, from the government.
This year, NMC projected property tax collections at Rs223 crore. However, with revenue generation hitting rock bottom owing to the nationwide lockdown, NMC is staring at a huge financial crisis. The tax rebate will further add to its woes.
Zalke has proposed a complete waiver of penalty in property tax and water bills for Nagpur. Zalke’s proposal in civic budget comes in view of the current coronavirus situation and the financial implications.
Zalke plans to utilize pending loan amount of Rs159 crore to complete development projects. But at the end of fiscal.
Earning accolades from corporators, Zalke announced special funds of Rs20 lakh for each of the 10 zone chairpersons for solving problems raised by citizens. He also resumed the ward fund of Rs20 lakh per corporator, which had been scrapped by Mundhe. Zalke said he has diverted Rs40 crore sanctioned for development of sports grounds, Rs1 lakh each from ward funds, and Rs5 lakh from fixed priorities to raise funds to procure 10 mobile hospitals and dead body freezer boxes.
Zalke said, “Of the 12 months, almost nine months were affected due to coronavirus scare. Therefore, I avoided announcement of big development projects and plan to complete all the ongoing and proposed projects. I planned some new concepts which can be implemented and will be beneficial for the city,” he said.
Citing non-recovery of property tax and 5% annual water bills dues, Zalke proposed one time settlement (OTS) to encourage defaulters to pay, which will help increase NMC’s revenue. “Defaulters will be given exemption from paying interest and penalty subject to implementation by civic administration,” he clarified.
Joshi returned the administration’s proposal to seek permissions to spend Rs131 crore received from the state government. The administration has proposed to spend the amount in Amrut Scheme, providing funds for OCW, Bhandewadi road construction, ADTP rehabilitation and NMC’s share in both phase-II and III of cement road works.