The annual budget estimate of the Chennai Corporation for 2013-14 was
tabled in the Corporation Council on Monday. The civic body’s plans for
the coming year feature a large number of projects in education and
traffic flyovers, apart from a slew of measures aimed at bringing the
expanded areas of the city on par with the core areas.

Reading out
the list of budget announcements, Chennai Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy
lined out a budget estimate of Rs 3629.4 crore in revenue and `3630.5
crore in expenditure, pegging the budgetary deficit at Rs 1.1 crore. The
revised estimates for revenue in 2012-13 increased by 19.1 percent and
expenditure was down by 6.42 percent over the budget estimates.

Schools
run by the Chennai Corporation got a number of announcements on the
academic, cultural, sports and staff fronts. High and higher secondary
schools are set to get generators, while many schools across the board
are set to get English, Maths and Fine Arts Labs to pique the interest
of students in these areas.

The biggest announcement on the
education front however seems to be the announcement that the civic body
would start 10 English medium sections in Class I in 20 schools. These
sections are aimed at expanding the Corporation’s introduction of
English education, to meet with the increasing demand from parents.

The
Corporation’s budget announcements also featured the civic body’s plans
to start the process for the construction of seven new flyovers and
five pedestrian subways. Some spots that could benefit from these
projects are Vadapalani, Kasturba Nagar, Kodambakkam, TTK Road. One of
the major announcements was the bridge that will connect the busy Old
Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and East Coast Road (ECR), by linking Pandiyan
Salai in Neelangarai and Murugesan Nagar in Thoraipakkam.

The
Mayor also announced a slew of schemes aimed at the expanded areas of
the city, such as free cremation and burial services, the upgradation
and modernisation of 147 crematoriums and burial grounds and the issue
of birth and death certificates at the respective ward offices.

Other
notable announcements included the growing of nochchi plants at homes
and along waterways to combat the mosquito menace, the installation of
solar panels on the roofs of all Corporation buildings and the
construction a multi-purpose Centenary Auditorium to mark one century of
the Ripon Building.