The Hindu        21.11.2014  

East Delhi civic body financially unviable, says commissioner

Increasing deficits and falling revenues were the
highlights of East Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Manish
Gupta’s budget presentation on Thursday.

Mr. Gupta
began his presentation of the revised budget estimates for 2014-2015 and
budget estimates for 2015-2016 by emphasising the precarious financial
condition of the EDMC. The civic body has been struggling to pay
salaries of employees for months.

The civic body’s
deficit for 2014-2015 was revised from Rs.468.34 crore to Rs.612.33
crore, which is expected to increase to Rs.682.07 crore. The
Commissioner said the EDMC was not sustainable and would need huge
grants from the government to survive.

“There is an
inherent and systemic problem in the EDMC’s finances. The revenue
generation cannot match the expenditure,” said Mr. Gupta, who is also
the commissioner of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

He
said the revenue potential of the EDMC was less than its North and
South Delhi counterparts. East Delhi does not have top category
colonies, where property tax rates are higher. South Delhi, in
comparison, has many such colonies and has more ‘lucrative’ spots in
terms of advertising and parking revenue.

Mr. Gupta
demanded that the Delhi Government fulfil the budgetary shortfall and
write off past loans as grants. “We are demanding a Rs.600 crore subsidy
per year from the Delhi Government,” he said.

Meanwhile,
the budget proposals included increasing revenue by hiking the base
unit area value for property tax assessment by 45 per cent and
introducing new cesses like professional and betterment taxes. But, even
if these are implemented, the hikes will not dent the deficit, said the
Commissioner.

There is an inherent and systemic problem in the EDMC’s finances. The revenue generation cannot match the expenditure”

“There is an inherent and systemic problem in the EDMC’s finances. The revenue generation cannot match the expenditure”