As first House meet is awaited, MCD presents Rs16K crore budget

With elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) now complete, municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has presented budgetary proposals worth ₹16,023 crore for the financial year 2023-24, with over a quarter of the budget expenses proposed for the sanitation sector

With elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) now complete, municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has presented budgetary proposals worth ₹16,023 crore for the financial year 2023-24, with over a quarter of the budget expenses proposed for the sanitation sector.

The MCD elections were held December 4, results of which were announced on December 7. The date for the first meeting of the elected House is yet to be decided. (HT photo)

The proposals were moved before special officer Ashwini Kumar on December 8, a day after the poll results were declared, but they have been made public only on Tuesday, after the lifting of the model code of conduct. This was the first fledged budget proposals moved by the municipal commissioner after the unification of the three municipal bodies on May 22.

To be sure, the 250 representatives who will constitute the new house of councillors will have the power to amend the proposals.

The summary of expenditure in the budget proposals show that of the total ₹16,023.55 crore, nearly 27.87% or ₹4465.85 crore has been set aside for sanitation, 20.82% or ₹3335.84 crore for general administration (which includes salaries and running costs), 17.77% or ₹2847.83 on the education sector, and 10.73% or ₹1719.49 for the public health and medical sectors.

“We may not be in power at MCD today but in the interest of civic services and payment of staff salaries, I again urge the Arvind Kejriwal government to release pending civic funds and also start timely regular payment of funds to MCD as per Delhi Finance Commission recommendations. The implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for staff salary and pension payment too needs to be done soon,” he said.

Prem Chauhan, former leader of opposition in the South MCD, who has been re-elected from the Dakshinpuri ward, said the new municipal body will review the entire budget in the coming month. “These are just budget proposals and we will be adding and removing several provisions. We will ensure that no proposal is cleared which impacts the Delhi residents in adverse manner. The real budget will be finalized by the elected wing,” he said.

In the elections, the results of which were announced on December 7, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 134 sears, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 104, while the Congress won 9, with three Independent candidates also winning.

The total income that the civic body projects to earn in the next fiscal is ₹15523.95 crore, and in a bid to avoid a deficit of around ₹500 crore, the MCD has stated that it is looking at funds from the Delhi government in the form of municipal reform funds and arrears on tax shares, as per the 4th Delhi Finance Commission report.

In his budget speech, Bharti has listed a series of steps and reforms that the civic body has undertaken over the last six months to bring uniformity in municipal administration following the unification of the three MCDs, including the merger of accounts, financial power distribution and a new uniform salary payment model.

Bharti has stated that the three municipal bodies had collected property tax worth ₹2037.6 crore in 2021-22, and has targeted a property tax collection of ₹3800 crore for the ongoing financial year. “Till November 15, 2022, the department has collected property tax worth ₹1387 crore which is ₹160.35 crore higher than the tax collection in the corresponding period,” he has said.

Similarly, the transfer duty collections have gone up by 42.68% -- from ₹767.15 crore last year to ₹1094.60 crore till November 15 this year.

The commissioner has mentioned that uniform property tax matrix was brought into force on July 15 across the regions of three erstwhile North, South, East MCDs. “After the enforcement of unified tax policy from 15th July, no change in property tax rates is proposed for 2023-24,” the budget proposal states, adding that 1% education cess provision will be continued in the next financial year.

All other rebates, including on early filing of taxes, online tax filing and Sahbhagita scheme, which provides benefits to RWAs and societies on high tax collection in their areas, are all proposed to be continued in the next year.