Of Mumbai's 8 COVID-19 centres, BMC spent the most on BKC

The BMC has spent Rs 42 crore on the Goregaon NESCO COVID centre. File pic

Details related to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) COVID-19 expenditure have revealed that of the total Rs 213.08 crore it spent on eight COVID care centres till December 7, 2020, the maximum amount of Rs 44.67 crore was utilised on the BKC one. While the BKC unit was constructed by the MMRDA, its maintenance is done by the civic body.

The BKC COVID centre was set up in May last year. File pic

The BMC has also spent a huge amount for the health department of ward offices. Development of the SevenHills Hospital cost the civic body a total of Rs 453 crore. It has also spent Rs 42 crore on the Goregaon NESCO COVID centre. As the COVID cases in the city are on the decline, the majority of the centres are lying vacant but still the BMC has decided to maintain them. Some officials said that it would be difficult for them to develop such centres again in case a second wave hit the city.

Meanwhile, an expenditure of Rs 149 crore, out of the available funds of Rs 152 crore, has been shown for K East ward. Civic officials said that 90 per cent of the funds was spent on developing SevenHills hospital. However, data shows that the maximum amount was spent on G north ward (Dadar and Dharavi) and E ward (Byculla). On an average every ward office spent Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore for COVID-related needs every month.

Apart from this, Rs 119 crore was spent for purchasing food packets and Rs 171 crore for medical equipment and other things. An overall Rs 1,632 crore has already been spent to fight the pandemic. A civic official said, "The BMC administration has got another Rs 400 crore sanctioned from the standing committee, which will be spent on vaccination, maintenance of the jumbo facilities and operations of the SevenHills hospital."

Rs 1.6k
Overall expenditure (in crore) of the civic body to fight the pandemic