After a delay of more than three months, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Moga Municipal Corporation (MC) passed its budget worth ₹78.33 crore for the 2024-25 financial year during a special meeting on Friday. The civic body estimates an equal income and expenditure in the upcoming fiscal.
Since August 21 last year when AAP got its first mayor in Punjab with party loyalist Baljit Singh Channi being unanimously elected to lead the Moga MC as its mayor, no house meeting has been called so far.
The budget meeting was chaired by Channi. It will now be sent to the Punjab department of local bodies for approval. In 2023-24, the MC had approved a budget of ₹76 crore.
In the 50-member house, the mayor has the support of 42 councillors, including 32 of AAP and 10 from other parties who are supporting the ruling party.
Nitika Bhalla of the Congress was removed as the Moga mayor after she lost a no-confidence motion on July 4, the last time a house meeting was convened.
Mayor Baljit Singh said, “We will hold a house meeting by the end of this month. We are already working on the agenda. An official communication will be issued for the meeting soon. At ₹78.33 crore, this year’s budget has been increased by nearly ₹2 crore. The agenda for house meeting will include project-related information which will be discussed,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Mayor Baljit Singh said, “We will hold a house meeting by the end of this month. We are already working on the agenda. An official communication will be issued for the meeting soon. At ₹78.33 crore, this year’s budget has been increased by nearly ₹2 crore. The agenda for house meeting will include project-related information which will be discussed,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Moga deputy commissioner Kulwant Singh, who has charge of the Moga MC commissioner, said the general house meeting would be called soon.
Though leaders and officials attribute the three-month delay to the imposition of the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections, other MCs in the state had passed their budget before the code of conduct came into force on March 16.