BMC budget to be slashed by Rs 11,000 cr for FY18

Mumbai: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) financial budget, which is bigger than some of the states’ budgets, is likely to be slashed by a whooping Rs 10,000 to11,000 crore. The budget of Rs 37,052 crore last year, is likely to be in the range of '26,000 to 28,000 crore for the year 2017-18, as the civic body has decided to cut down inflated capital expenditure and present only actual figures of revenue spending. The budget will be presented next Wednesday in the civic standing committee.  

It will be the first time in many years that the BMC budget will a see drop in its total outlay. The budget, which has witnessed a quantum leap in last few years, has surpassed the budget figures of several small states in the country.

However, according to civic sources, inflated numbers of capital expenditure were responsible for the rise in budget size.

Despite the huge outlay, the civic body was able to spend only average 40 percent funds on development works leaving the remaining amount to lapse every year.

“In several cases, we make substantial provision in capital expenditure for civic projects in the budget, but they do not get started on time due to which the proposed funds are not spent on them. We have decided to avoid this and instead focus only on actual expenditure,” said a civic official.

According to the civic officials, the capital expenditure is raised from loans, grants, special funds and surplus amount. It will be reduced drastically this year. “There will be 20-30 percent reduction in every department for the year 2017-18. However, it will not affect the civic projects as we intend to cut off only inflated figures from the budget,” said the official.

Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar had asked the civic administration to avoid presenting inflated figures and bring discipline in the budget. “Though the BMC makes provision for proposed works, the funds are not used till the project works start. Due to delay in projects for various reasons, the proposed funds get lapsed and the civic body faces the blame for not spending the funds efficiently,” said the mayor.