BMC TO DIP INTO FDs

THE RICHEST MUNICIPAL CORPORATION WILL WITHDRAW MONEY FROM FIXED DEPOSITS TO SPEND ON MAJOR PROJECTS LIKE COASTAL ROAD AND GOREGOANMULUND LINK ROAD

The civic budget presented by civic chief Ajoy Mehta on Friday is a bag of mixed goodies. On one hand, the budget has increased by 8.42 per cent, with an impetus to education and health. However, the flip side is that the BMC coffers are empty. For the first time the civic body will dip into Fixed Deposits (FDs) worth Rs 3000 crores for big projects like Coastal Road and Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR). Currently, the BMC has Rs 70,000 crore invested in FDs.

The BMC, in its budget report, accepts that though the compensation in lieu of Octroi -- which has been scrapped -- will offset the revenue loss, the slowdown in the real estate sector is eating into its funds.

The BMC, acutely aware that the golden days are over, recently announced that it will increase charges on medical services in civic-run hospitals. It will also attempt to generate income by reviving certain fees or charges and licence fees for wholesale markets.

This year’s fiscal budget is Rs 27,258.07 crore, which exceeds that of the previous year by 8.42 per cent. The increase in capital outlay by Rs 3,416.73 will be utilised on infrastructure development. There is an additional fund provision for Development Plan (DP).

In 2017-2018, the budget for DP was Rs 752.21 crore, this year, it is expected to be Rs 2665.37 crore, with an increase of Rs 1913.16 crore for DP implementation alone.

Anyhow, the blessing is that no new tax or hikes were added to the existing regime. The corporation has provided Rs 4,145 crore for roads, Rs 2,569 crore for education, Rs 3,636 crore for healthcare, Rs 929 crore for storm water drains, Rs 180 crore for modernisation of the civic body's Fire Brigade, Rs 11.69 crore for disaster management, including equipping its personnel with satellite phones, and Rs 28 crore for installation of LED lights across the city.

The BMC would also opt for the Public-Private Partnership model to open schools that have closed down for various reasons, adding that it proposes to restart 35 such schools, closed for want of students, by tapping into CSR funds and approaching educational trusts. These schools will be affiliated to CBSE, ICSE or other such educational boards, he informed.

In order to provide international quality education to its students, the civic body proposes to start 24 international schools, one each in the civic body's 24 administrative wards. It has also proposed to install 381 sanitary napkin vending machines in 345 schools for girl students of Class VI to VIII.

There is another proposal to stall 4,064 CCTV cameras in 381 municipal schools.