More for BMC in civic body budget, nothing new for Mumbaikars

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) unveiled '33441.02-crore budget on Tuesday.

Even though the BMC has increased the budget allocation for 2020-21 by almost '3,000 crore as compared to last year, it seems to be aiming at collecting more revenue this fiscal year instead of giving any major relief to the citizens.

Municipal fees
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) unveiled '33441.02-crore budget on Tuesday. Among its proposals for the upcoming fiscal year is a plan to hike municipal fees or charges, which the citizens pay while acquiring documents like birth and certificates, trade and market licences, by 5 per cent yearly.

Justifying the hike, which will impact the Mumbaikars, the civic administration said the charges were not revised since the past 10 to 15 years.

"While the expenditure on the services provided by the BMC has increased significantly, the charges remained the same. The hike will help BMC to keep up with the rate of inflation," the BMC said.

"I have initiated a detailed proposal separately in this respect for the approval of the concerned committee. If in any case, the charges/fees are required to be increased by more than 5 per cent, specific sanction of the concerned committee will be obtained separately," said Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi in his budget speech.

The BMC also plans to reform the Property Tax structure, although it did not give any clarity on the matter. The move is expected to add additional burden on the citizens.

There has also been a proposal to allocate more funds to the roads and bridges departments for projects like Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, Coastal Road and construction of Gargai reservoir. But, the BMC has not proposed any new projects; it has instead emphasised on completing the pending ones and improving the quality of the existing infrastructure.

The BEST is proposed to get a boost of '1,500 crore and the BMC plans to encourage the citizens to use public transport more. In view of the coronavirus crisis, the BMC has kept aside '2 crore.

Mumbai 2030
There have, however, been proposals for future development works under the proposed decade-long vision — Mumbai 2030. This will aim at providing world class roads, bridging missing links and robust public transportation. In general, the BMC aims to improve the average speed of commute to 40 km per hour from 20 km per hour by expanding the width of the roads.

"We can increase the road areas by implementing the Development Plan that proposes increasing all six-metre-wide roads to 12 metres. That space is currently occupied by people, especially owners of small shops. Shopkeepers who have had their shops in the areas since before 1960 will be entitled to get alternate market space or ready reckoner value in cash, and we have started disbursing this amount. Others will be treated as encroachers. Apart from this, the Coastal Road project will create 90 hectares of land in a space-starved city like Mumbai," said Pardeshi.

Under the Mumbai 2030 plan, the BMC also aims at increasing the water supply from 3,850 million litres supplied daily to 5,910 million litres, in a decade's time.

Rs 1,500 cr
Grant to be given to the BEST

Rs 33,441 cr
Total outlay of the BMC budget

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