The Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) adopted a surplus budget of ₹1.06 crore for 2018-19 at its general body meeting here on Monday.
The budget, presented by CMC president Meenakshi Bannanje, showed the total receipts at ₹91.3 crore and expenditure projected at ₹90.24 crore.
The CMC expects to get ₹27.31 crore from grants of Union and State governments, ₹11.02 crore from property tax, ₹9 crore from water fee, ₹1.5 crore from rent on the CMC’s commercial complexes, ₹60 lakh from trade licences, ₹30 lakh from advertisements, ₹40 lakh from building licences, ₹30 lakh from legislators and parliamentarians local area development funds, and ₹16 lakh from underground drainage connections.
The estimated major expenses of the CMC include ₹8.93 crore for office maintenance and administrative expenditure, ₹25.4 crore for maintenance of roads, drains and footpaths, ₹2.68 crore for maintaining and installing street lamps, ₹3.5 crore for maintenance and repair of water pipelines, ₹7.9 crore for solid waste management, and ₹2.5 crore for maintenance of underground drainage system.
In its development proposals, the CMC has set aside ₹3.66 crore for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribe communities, ₹1.28 crore for the development of parks and planting trees, ₹1.35 crore for construction of storm-water drains and small bridges, and ₹2.68 crore for installing and maintaining LED lamps.
The CMC also intends to build more gardens in the city. A new CMC office is planned at the old taluk office area at a cost of ₹15 crore.
While the treasury benches applauded the budget, the opposition councillors said there was nothing new in it and old proposals had merely been given a new garb.
M.R. Pai, leader of the opposition, said not all municipal wards had got an equal share of the grants. He said there was a lot left to be desired on the matter of road repair. Making the CMC a paperless office and installing LED lamps across the city are the only laudable proposals, he said. Janardhan Bhandarkar, councillor, called it a good budget which gave importance to all sectors.
