SDMC budget doubles LAD funds from ₹50 lakh to ₹1cr

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) in its final budget presentation on Thursday doubled the councillors’ funds for Local Area Development (LAD), from ₹50 lakh per councillor per year to ₹1 crore per councillor per year

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) in its final budget presentation on Thursday doubled the councillors’ funds for Local Area Development (LAD), from ₹50 lakh per councillor per year to ₹1 crore per councillor per year.

Reacting to the budget, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and the party’s municipal affairs in-charge Durgesh Pathak said the budget is nothing but a “money-making exercise for councillors”. (HT Photo)

Besides that, the SDMC made a provision to provide ₹10,000 to councillors per ward to celebrate national days such as Independence Day and Republic Day. The civic body has also decided to hike funds to celebrate festivals such as Ramlila, Krishnalila and Chhath Puja from ₹50 Lakh to ₹1 crore.

It also scrapped the provision of increasing the property tax and reduction in concessions, which were proposed by the SDMC additional commissioner in the budget presentation for the financial year 2021-22 in December.

Reacting to the budget, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and the party’s municipal affairs in-charge Durgesh Pathak said the budget is nothing but a “money-making exercise for councillors”.

Presenting the final budget for the financial year 2021-22, leader of the SDMC house Narendra Chawla said that the civic body has decided to double the LAD funds from ₹50 Lakh to ₹1 crore for each ward and also made a provision to create a new head of account for the allocation of ₹50 Lakh for the deputy chairperson of each zone.

“This should not be seen as money being given to the councillors -- it is for the development of wards. It will be reserved for citizen-centric works as they were impacted by the Covid-19 last year. We will make arrangements to generate additional funds for the purpose. We will bring more people under our tax net to bridge the (revenue) gap,” Chawla said.

He added that to generate more revenue, the civic body will rely on completing its ongoing remunerative projects and lease out its commercial and other properties. “We will make provisions for holding night markets to earn more revenue. We will also rent out empty spaces in our office buildings and also allow advertisements on toilet blocks and dhalaos (garbage collection centres). All these efforts will generate more revenue,” Chawla said.

In the budget, the civic body has decided not to levy extra taxes from residents. “We know that due to coronavirus pandemic, people are already troubled, and we don’t want to put an extra burden on their pockets in terms of a tax hike. So, we have decided to scrap recommendations to increase property tax. We have also decided not to implement recommendations of the municipal valuation committee-3 (MVC-3), which proposes to double the tax amount on rented commercial properties and banquet halls, among others. These are all people-centric decisions,” Chawla said.

The civic body also decided to impose a fine of ₹50,000 on those found dumping building material along the roadside.

He said the move will help in reducing pollution, especially dust pollution.

The SDMC also announced the restarting of Atal Aahar Yojana, a scheme through which people will be provided food at ₹15 per meal. This scheme was first launched in 2017 and was stopped when the pandemic struck last year.

Under the scheme, people will get a full plate of food (thali) for ₹15. “Initially, the scheme will restart with five inbuilt kitchen mobile vans in each zone and, later, two such vans will be made available in each ward of the SDMC,” an SDMC official, in the know of the matter, said.

The civic body also decided to allow the keeping of an animal (either cow or buffalo) within the periphery of houses in rural and urban villages, without paying animal tax.

Besides, the civic body also decided to allocate ₹25 lakh to each ward to improve the condition of roads with a width ranging between 30 feet and 60 feet.

The SDMC will provide ₹500 to municipal schoolchildren and children of safai sainiks and gardeners to purchase tracksuits. The municipality also decided to launch a scheme to provide houses to kins of corona warriors who died on duty during the pandemic.

AAP’s Durgesh Pathak said, “At a time when the municipalities are going through an acute financial crisis and employees are not being paid salaries, the SDMC has decided to increase councillor funds. The Delhi government has given them ₹1,095 crore for payment of salaries, which the MCDs are distributing among its councillors. MCDs have become a den of corruption. Instead of increasing councillor funds, the SDMC should think about its employees and the people.”