Mumbai: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has planned a budgetary outlay of ₹25,141.51 crore for Mumbai city and its suburbs for the fiscal year 2017-2018.
This is a sharp reduction in the budget plan size, with sharply reduced expenditure on crucial civic sectors such as health and primary education when compared to the ₹37,000 crore budget announced in last fiscal. Mr. Mehta said this year’s budget was grounded on reality-based projections.
The civic chief conceded to The Hindu that last year's budget (estimates of revenue income and capital receipts) had, in fact, projected exaggerated figures. Mr. Mehta said the current budget may seem to be lower by ₹11, 911 crore in planned allocation when compared to the last fiscal, but added, “This does not mean that the corporation is reducing its actual spending on goods and services. The figures in this budget provide the estimated revenue income based on actual projections, just as the revenue expenditure provides a clear picture of the cost of running the organisation.”
The budget estimates for fiscal 2016-2017 had projected income receipts at ₹25,642.88 crore whereas the actual income receipts stood at ₹21,679.79 crore (a difference of over ₹4,000 crore). Similarly, capital receipts were projected at ₹11,409.27 crore while the civic body was able to receive only ₹3097.31 crore under it.
Mr. Mehta said: “Five principles have been adhered to in the current budget estimates, based on conservatism (realistic projections), avoidance of duplicate entries (double paper entries due to the accounting format followed by the BMC), transparency, accountability and integration of the budget with the blueprint of Mumbai currently being finalised for the next 20 years (Development Plan 2034).”
He added: “No new taxes have been proposed in this year's budget; it is a rational and realistic document. While it may appear that expenditure under certain heads have been reduced in the current fiscal, that is not the case. Consider the fact that while ₹3,000 crore was allocated in the last fiscal for roads, the revised estimates later revealed that only ₹1,000 crore was spent. We have made a realistic projection in terms of expected revenue as well as expenditure. For instance, department heads would now be held accountable for underutilisation of allocated funds from this fiscal year.”
The new BMC budget will focus on integration of the DP 2034 blueprint of Mumbai’s city development unlike previous years, Mr. Mehta said. A total corpus of ₹91,080 crore is required for the implementation of the proposed DP 2034 to be spread over the next 20 years, including funds for land acquisition (₹67,225 crore), construction of new roads (₹9,172 crore), widening of roads (₹5,731 crore), construction of buildings (₹7,413 crore), and open space development (₹1,239 crore).
In the 2017-2018 fiscal, the BMC commissioner has proposed to allocate ₹827.32 crore for land acquisition, ₹1,030 for new roads, ₹160 crore for road widening, ₹47.73 crore for building construction and ₹31 crore for developing open spaces. This cumulatively works out to ₹2,096.05 crore being allocated for DP integration this year.
On revenue expenditure pertaining to roads, traffic operations, the coastal road projects, and bridges, the BMC proposes to spend ₹806.26 crore in the new fiscal year as compared to the ₹584.54 crore (revised estimate) for 2016-17, ₹871.16 crore (actual expenditure) in 2015-16, ₹891.83 crore (actual in 2014-15) and ₹885 crore (in 2013-14).
Similarly, captial expenditure for the same sector is pegged at ₹2,4080.19 crore proposed for 2017-18 as against the ₹985.50 crore against the same head (revised estimates) in 2016-17, ₹1893.51 crore (actùal) in 2015-16, ₹2,136.51 crore (actual) in 2014-2015 and ₹770.59 crore (actual) spend in 2013-14 under the head.
Under the head of solid waste management and transport, the budgeted revenue expenditure for the new fiscal is pegged at ₹2,246.59 crore as against ₹1,974.61 crore (revised estimates) in 2016-17, ₹1,806.45 crore (2015-16), ₹1686.15 crore (2014-15) and ₹1,551.19 crore (2013-14).
Similarly, revenue expenditure under the health department is proposed at ₹2,755.96 crore (2017-18) as against ₹2,372.55 (revised estimates) 2016-17, ₹2,002.11 crore (2015-16). ₹1,778.41 crore (2014-15) and ₹1,621.61 crore (2013-14).
Under the head of stormwater drains, the BMC proposes to spend ₹369.11 crore in the new fiscal year as against ₹294.74 crore (revised estimates) 2016-17, ₹345.70 crore (2015-16) and ₹432.01 crore (2014-15) and ₹437.65 crore (2013-14).
The revenue expenditure for primary education is pegged at ₹1,953.57 crore (2017-18) against ₹1,811.44 crore 2016-17, ₹1,620.21 crore (2015-16), ₹1,829.09 crore (2014-15) and ₹1,548.46 crore (2013-14).
