Budget for green works likely to be slashed: MCG officials

Funds for environmental works is likely to see a major dip in the upcoming 2021-2020 budget of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday

Funds for environmental works is likely to see a major dip in the upcoming 2021-2020 budget of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The MCG is scheduled to draft its 2021-22 budget on March 18.

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Officials said that around ₹102 crore was reserved for environment works in the 2020-21 fiscal, of which only ₹21 crore was spent. “Even though the MCG set a fund allocation of around ₹102 crore, only around ₹21 crore were spent for environmental works in the 2020-21 fiscal, mostly related to Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) measures. Hence, there is an 85% dip in the allocation of funds for this fiscal,” a senior MCG, requesting anonymity, said.

The official explained that the budget serves as a guide around which the MCG initiates its operations for a financial year and added that only 15-20% of funds can be increased from the original allocation.

“We can allocate some extra funds for any specific category. However, it should not be in excess of 15-20% as then the MCG has to explain the spending and seek approval from the state government. The biggest drawback of low funding is that it signifies that the MCG does not have any large-scale new projects or environmental restorations in mind,” the official cited above said.

Over the last two days, the MCG has also held separate meetings with its officials and councillors over the draft budget. MCG officials said that all suggestions and complaints will also be taken into account when the budget is being finalised.

“Only a draft budget has been prepared at the moment. Each category under the revenue collection as well as expenditure will be scrutinised, reviewed, and then finalised in the official budget meeting. We have held two meetings on the matter, with councillors and officials recently. Their inputs and suggestions will also be factored while preparing the MCG’s 2021-22 budget,” said Vinay Pratap Singh, commissioner, MCG.

Officials said that the MCG is likely to increase its funds’ allocation by nearly two times for water bodies, while it will reserve funds for rainwater harvesting for the first time.

“This fiscal, we are aiming to spend a lot of funds towards the rejuvenation of ponds and local water bodies to both mitigate localised waterlogging and recharging the groundwater table. Further, for the first time in 13 years of existence, MCG is also reserving funds for rainwater harvesting,” the official cited above said.

Officials said the increase in allocation of funds for water bodies and rainwater harvesting by the MCG may be due to a recent order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directing the civic body to highlight the steps it will take to ensure increased groundwater recharge in 2021.

Vaishali Rana Chandra, a city-based environmentalist said that Haryana has one of the lowest green covers across the country as consistently highlighted by the annual reports of the Forest Survey of India (FSI) over the past decade.

“Increasing green cover is of the highest importance, especially since Gurugram is one of the cities with the highest pollution globally. Delhi has seven biodiversity parks and Gurugram has just a solitary one. MCG needs to take cognisance of this situation and allocate more funds towards increasing the city’s green cover, build more biodiversity parks, plant more saplings, rather than reducing its expenditure,” said Chandra.