Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance and Taxation of the Kalaburagi City Corporation Khaleel Ahmed Khan presented a deficit budget of Rs. 16.73 crore for the year 2015-16 in the emergency special general body meeting held here on Tuesday.
While the anticipated receipts was Rs. 280.43 crore, the expenditure during the year 2015-16 has been put at Rs. 213.93 crore and a sum of Rs. 66.50 crore was shown as payment to the State exchequer towards health cess, income cess and Value Added Tax.
Mr. Khan said that more stress has been given on the development of the infrastructure and beautification of the city. A sum of Rs. 34.81 crore has been earmarked for the construction of footpaths and a sum of Rs. 9.85 crore has been earmarked for the construction of storm water drains and side drains. A sum of Rs. 5 crore has been earmarked for the maintenance of the streetlights in the city.
Mr. Khan said that priority has also been given to maintaining cleanliness in the city and implementing an effective solid waste management system with an allocation of Rs. 17 crore. A sum of Rs. 9.35 crore has been earmarked for the development of welfare programmes for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Rs. 3.02 crore has been earmarked for the development of welfare programmes directed to help the Backward Classes and Rs. 1.23 crore has been set aside in the budget for taking up welfare measures directed to benefit physically challenged persons. Mr. Khan said while the anticipated income from property tax and construction fee as well as development charges was Rs. 18.87 crore, the allocation from the Hyderabad Karnataka Region Development Board to the city corporation for taking up various development activities was Rs. 24 crore.
Replying to the discussions on the budget, the Commissioner Shrikant Kattimani said that the corporation proposes to introduce a new advertisement collection tariff policy adopting the Shimoga pattern and the expected revenue from the advertisement tax would be more than the specified amount of Rs. 50 lakh.
Corporators including Syed Ahmed (Congress) and Vittal Jadhav (BJP) wanted the Corporation to take up more people-centric development works like the construction of toilets and urinals in the city.
