MCG Budget: Highest collections from property tax, water bills in three years

Despite the coronavirus outbreak, the revenue collection of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) from property tax and water bills was the highest in three years, MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said during the civic body’s House meeting on the budget presentation on Thursday

Despite the coronavirus outbreak, the revenue collection of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) from property tax and water bills was the highest in three years, MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said during the civic body’s House meeting on the budget presentation on Thursday.

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According to Singh, in the 2020-21 fiscal, the MCG has so far collected ₹225 crore in property taxes, which is ₹67 crore higher than the previous fiscal. Similarly, in terms of revenue through the generation of water bills, the MCG has so far netted ₹25.5 crore this fiscal, compared to ₹10 crore in 2019-20.

“Despite Covid-19, MCG has managed to generate a lot of revenue. In regard to property tax collection, the MCG has had a higher recovery than the three previous fiscals. Last fiscal, the MCG had recovered around ₹158 crore; in the 2018-19 fiscal, the MCG had collected ₹207 crore and in the 2017-18 fiscal, ₹220 crore. Despite two weeks of the fiscal remaining, the MCG has already netted ₹225 crore,” said Singh.

Singh told the House that the MCG is in the process of generating more revenue through property tax collections and is aiming to break its highest annual collection of ₹345 crore, recorded in 2016-17 fiscal, in the next fiscal.

Singh also said that the MCG has now turned its attention to generating revenue by issuing water meter bills. He said that in 2018-19 fiscal, the MCG had generated only ₹4.5 crore through this, but that it has been increasing. He said that the revenue further increased to ₹10 crore in 2019-20 fiscal.

“For 2020-21 fiscal, the MCG had set a target of collecting ₹20 crore through the issuance of water bills. We have already crossed this figure and generated ₹25.5 crore so far. In the upcoming fiscal, we have set an expected collection of ₹40 crore through this mode, however, this is just a safe figure. We are anticipating a final collection of around ₹50 crore,” said Singh.

For the 2021-22 fiscal, the MCG has estimated a revenue collection of ₹4,899.26 crore and an expenditure of ₹2,538.31 crore.

The maximum allocation of funds has been reserved for solid waste management, garbage clearance and sanitation services category, amounting to a total of ₹250 crore.

The allocation for water bodies (bundh/pond) has seen the highest change in the allocation. From an allocation of ₹20 crore in the current fiscal, ₹37 crore has been allocated for the upcoming fiscal. The category of rainwater harvesting was added to the MCG’s budget and the civic body reserved ₹8 crore for the same in 2021-22 fiscal.

Besides the approval of the 2021-22 fiscal budget, agendas such as allotment of land in Babupur village for building a new police station in Rajendra Park, regularising city’s banquet halls, MCG’s pending taking over of Maruti Vihar and Saraswati Vihar, constructing MCG’s office on MG Road was also approved by the House.

An agenda asking details on the total number of street vendors under MCG’s street vending policy, the revenue collected from vendors by respective agencies, and the steps taken for generating revenue turned out to be a topic of conflict among both MCG officials as well as councillors.

The MCG House meeting had commenced with this agenda, with the commissioner seeking details from Dr Vijay Pal Yadav, the deputy municipal commissioner. Yadav said that he had only assumed charge of the street vending project a few months ago and passed the blame on to his predecessor. Singh found his reply on the matter to be dissatisfactory.

The discussion became heated when Yadav started speaking out of turn on various occasions and continued to reiterate his stance even after the mike had been taken away from him. Singh cautioned him repeatedly that such type of behaviour has no place in the House meeting and warned that he would be ejected.

Finally, Singh told Yadav to submit a report on the street vending policy within seven days and also cautioned MCG officials that any negligence or dishonesty found on their part regarding this project could invite an FIR being registered against them.

The agenda has been pushed forward for the next House meeting.