A property tax waiver for owners of small houses, insurance for rickshaw pullers, a new old-age home and an eight-storey parking lot were among the announcements made by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday as a part of its budget for 2017-18.
With elections to the municipal corporations expected in April, the budget was full of announcements that would please voters. While presenting the budget, Leader of the House Vijay Prakash Pandey also hit out against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government as well as the Opposition Congress.
‘AAP withholding funds’
Referring to the financial crisis that had plagued the corporation, Mr. Pandey said that the AAP government was responsible for withholding funds.
Mr. Pandey said that the corporation had lost almost ₹1,000 crore from 2012-13 till October 2016 due to the decrease in transfer duty rates from 5% to 3% by the government and demanded that the AAP should release this amount as arrears.
Responding to allegations by the Opposition Congress that the corporation had failed to increase revenue, Mr. Pandey said external factors had played a role in some cases. For instance, when it came to pending property tax and service charge on government agencies, Mr. Pandey said the matters were in court.
He said the Delhi Development Authority owed the corporation ₹800 crore and had so far paid only ₹80 crore, but the case was pending in the High Court.
‘Crowd pleasers’
In the budget, Mr. Pandey said that the residential properties up to 26 square metres in size and properties owned by people aged 85 years and above would be exempted from property tax.
An insurance scheme for rickshaw pullers above 21 years of age and in “good health” would also be implemented in 2017-18.
The existing insurance cover for students of municipal schools would be increased from ₹50,000 each to ₹1 lakh. A new parking lot with a capacity to hold 900 cars will also be developed at Rajendra Nagar, said Mr. Pandey.
May spend ₹7,200 crore
While the estimated income and expenditure were yet to be finalised, as per the budget presented by the Commissioner, the corporation is expected to spend ₹7,199.60 crore in 2017-18.
The Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Goel said the budget presented by Mr. Pandey was “unrealistic” and only focused on the upcoming polls.
“When there is no money to pay staff on time, how will all these promises be fulfilled? The budget was purely an attempt to garner votes, without looking at the reality,” said Mr. Goel.
