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Zirakpur MC approves ₹117.5-crore budget for 2022-23
With no new taxes, projects planned in upcoming fiscal, budget approved by the Zirakpur MC is only ₹50-lakh surplus
With no new tax and project planned, the Zirakpur municipal council (MC) on Monday approved a budget of ₹117.5 crore for financial year 2022-23 at its monthly House meeting on Monday.
While the council has set an income target of ₹117.5 crore, it expects to spend around ₹117 crore, making the budget only ₹50-lakh surplus.
Last year, the civic body had approved a budget of ₹98 crore.
Among its major earnings in the upcoming fiscal are ₹20 crore from GST and VAT, and ₹5.67 crore from excise duty.
Property tax and building application collections are expected to bring in ₹72 lakh and ₹80 lakh, respectively.
MC also hopes to earn ₹60 lakh from rent and entertainment, ₹20 lakh from water and sewerage bills, and ₹2 lakh from licence fees.
Besides, the council already has ₹124.5 crore in its deposit account.
At the meeting, the House also approved ₹2.15 crore for new posts. Similarly, 2.5% of the budget was set aside for emergency fund.
The House also took up discussion on awarding the ₹4.2 crore contract for advertisements, which was strongly objected by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillors.
Councillors appealed to MC president Udayvir Singh Dhillon that payments to contractors should not be cleared without their consent, as they, and not the MC officials, were accountable to the residents.
Congratulating the newly formed AAP government in Punjab, councillors of both SAD and Congress assured to work with it for Zirakpur’s overall development. AAP’s Kuljeet Singh Randhawa had won from the Dera Bassi seat, which comprises Zirakpur.
Out of total 31 seats in the Zirakpur MC House, 23 were won by the Congress in the MC elections held in February 2021. The remaining eight went to the SAD.
