MC passes Rs 849-crore budget

Chandigarh, February 29
With the UT Administration again failing to issue any grant-in-aid to the Municipal Corporation (MC) for the fiscal year 2011-12, the cash reserves of the otherwise “rich” corporation are on the wane.
Against an opening cash reserve of Rs 579.72 crore last year, the coffers of the MC showed a decline of Rs 144 crore, standing at Rs 323.83 crore, as the civic body passed its annual budget of Rs 849.48 crore today.
As a result, if like the last two financial years the UT Administration does not disburse the grant-in-aid to the MC on time, the authorities will have to meet the expenditure from their own resources, which are steadily declining. In the next fiscal year also the MC authorities expect a decrease in the anticipated grant from the Administration.
Without levying any new tax, the House approved a budget of Rs 481.69 crore under the plan head; Rs 219.90 crore under the non-plan head; and Rs 141.41 crore from its own receipts under various other heads.
MC Additional Commissioner Sunil Bhatia informed the General House that last year the MC had withdrawn funds from fixed deposits as the grant-in-aid was not received on time.
MC chief engineer SS Bidda told the House that last year the authorities had anticipated a grant of Rs 692 crore from the Administration, but to date only Rs 206 crore had been sanctioned. Out of this, Rs 164 crore had been disbursed by the Administration and the next instalments of Rs 42 crore is yet to be released.

Pointing out at the decline in the opening balance, Congress councillor Subhash Chawla asked why the MC authorities had not taken up the matter with the Administration.
Another Congress councillor, Pardeep Chabbra, said for the last two years, the Administration had not released its share of matching grant against the collected property tax, which it had assured of when the MC imposed the tax. He said it was a matter of concern that there was a decline in the tax collection in the last two years.
The MC expects to increase its revenue generation from various sources in the next financial year. As per the budgetary report, the expected revenue for the next fiscal will be Rs 1,125 crore as against Rs 909.91 crore in the current year budget.
BJP councillors staged a walkout from the House when the Mayor, Raj Bala Malik, denied a detailed discussion on the budget.