Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) Commissioner Annasaheb Misal on Tuesday presented a civic budget estimate of ₹3,850 crore for 2020-21, which also includes the opening balance of ₹1,217 crore from the revised budget estimate of ₹4,275.31 crore for the financial year 2019-20. With an estimated income of ₹3,850 crore and expenditure of ₹3,848.91 crore, Mr. Misal has calculated a surplus of ₹1.09 crore this year.
The NMMC plans to earn ₹3,850 crore through local body tax, property tax, development fees, licence and advertising fees, encroachment fees, and State and Central schemes. Mr. Misal claimed that the budget had been made keeping the needs and feedback of the public in mind.
The administration plans to spend this income on the development of the city, civil works, waste segregation, e-governance, health, education and transport.
The budget focuses on finishing the incomplete projects from last year and has also introduced a few new projects. The Central library at Turbhe, connecting the missing link of Palm Beach Road after Ghansoli, modular sewage plant for the slums, entrance door at the beginning of Navi Mumbai, cycle tracks, sports complex at Ghansoli, biogas unit and street light replacements are some of the new projects planned for the year.
Speaking on tax collection, Mr. Misal said, “We have not increased property tax rates, but going by the current prices of real estate, the total tax collected is likely to increase. The property tax collected up till November last year is ₹251.77 crore, and this is expected to go up to ₹700 crore by March.” He also said the estimated property tax collection for the year 2020-21 is ₹630 crore.
Taking into consideration the ever-increasing residential societies and incidents of fire, the administration has proposed to buy a 68-m high turn table ladder and a water bowser with a 60-m tower monitor attached to it.
On the education front, the NMMC, which provides education to over 37,000 children across 53 primary and 19 secondary schools, has proposed the introduction of a locker system in schools to decrease the baggage weight carried by students. The administration has also planned to replace carpets at Balwadi schools with colourful benches.
Under the FAME II scheme, the civic body is expecting to induct 50 new electric buses by August and 50 more by April next year.
“The return ticket scheme introduced in September 2019 has helped passengers save 10% on travel in NMMT,” Mr. Misal said. He also said ₹13 crore has been designated for disaster management cell to buy required equipment and to train its staff.
“To tackle the problem of paramedical staff in civic run hospitals, we are planning to have a nursing college attached to the hospitals… To solve the issue of hawkers, we need more markets and for the same we have asked CIDCO for 100 plots, of which 38 would be handed over to us soon,” he said.
