No new tax in NMC’s Rs 2,796cr budget, reliance on govt grants

Nagpur: With an eye on civic body elections due next year, standing committee chairman Prakash Bhoyar on Friday did not propose any additional tax or licence fee while presenting a Rs 2,796.07-crore budget of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) for 2021-22.
For the second consecutive year, the special general body meeting convened for budget presentation was organized online due to the pandemic. Discussion on the budget will be held in a meeting convened on May 31.
Bhoyar said NMC’s revenue collection declined due to the decisions taken to combat Covid-19 and provide relief to different sectors affected by it. Even property tax and water bill collection was adversely affected due to the pandemic and the consequent restrictions, he said.
The total budget estimate for the 2021-22 fiscal is 7% more than the budget presented by municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B. He had projected NMC’s budget of Rs 2,607.6 crore for the current fiscal. So, Bhoyar too did not inflate the estimates unlike his predecessors.
“There is no additional tax and charge in the budget,” he said while talking to reporters after the special general body meeting. He announced a 10% rebate in general tax for property owners if they pay tax before June 30. Similarly, those paying property tax by December end will get a 5% rebate in general tax, he said.
Like past budgets, Bhoyar too lacked any plan to introduce a fresh source of revenue for the civic body. Instead, he also depended heavily on government grants. Bhoyar expected a revenue of Rs 2,796.07 crore (including last year’s opening balance of Rs 320 crore government grant) from various sources, including Rs 289.43 crore from property tax, Rs 201 crore from water, Rs 86.19 crore from town planning and Rs 1,418 crore as government grant.
Bhoyar said the pandemic has hit NMC’s coffer very hard in the last financial year, resulting in unsatisfactory revenue generation from property tax, water and town planning department. “But in the current financial year, I think the situation will improve with a decrease in Covid-19 cases,” he said.
No new major infrastructure project was announced in the budget. Instead, NMC focuses on various ongoing development projects, besides health services, education and other facilities.
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City mayor Dayashankar Tiwari said the budget focuses on the overall development of Nagpur and includes various development works. The opposition parties, however, criticized the budget and termed it as nothing but ‘old wine in a new bottle’.
Tanaji Wanve, opposition leader in NMC, said the civic body has shown a dream which has not been fulfilled since retaining power in 2017.