The Indian Express              06.02.2014

This year, civic budget may touch Rs 30,000-cr mark

For the financial
year 2014-2015, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budget may
reach the Rs 30,000-crore mark. According to sources, the budget may be
raised to accommodate rising costs and utilise the currently underspent
fiscal budget of Rs 27,578.67 crore for 2013-2014.

“In 2013, a new unified schedule of rates for works was introduced in
the BMC. This has raised the estimated costs of works by over 10 per
cent. Moreover, in many departments, the budget has remained
underutilised, so funds from these will be carried forward. Focus areas
will include reconstruction and repair, water supply, open spaces, and
education,” a source said.

Following a spate of building collapses in 2013, especially the
Dockyard Road building collapse of September 27, sources said a large
portion of the budget would be directed towards reconstruction and
repairs of civic buildings.
“For the next two to three years, the budget will focus on the
reconstruction and repairs of all dilapidated buildings in Mumbai.
Expenditure for this will be based on structural audit reports,” a
senior civic official said.

The BMC will direct a major portion of its resources for enhancing
water supply. This will include allocations for the Gargai-Pinjal dam
project and the Water Distribution Improvement Programme (WDIP). “We are
not going to introduce free water supply in Mumbai; it’s not feasible.
We are first concerned with improving the supply network in Mumbai.
People would rather pay for guaranteed water supply than bear with
irregular or weak supply,” another senior official said.

Sources added that Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte has also
written to the state government to amend the Mumbai Municipal
Corporation Act so that illegal structures, including slums and
buildings, are allowed to avail of civic water supply.

The forthcoming budget, in a new trend, is also expected to have more funds for ward-wise improvement of public amenities.

After focusing on public health, in the next fiscal, public education
in municipal schools will be funded heavily. “We are planning to expand
the scope of municipal school education to include pre-primary classes
and high-school classes. We will also increase the number of
English-medium schools,” a source said.