MCG keeps aside ₹1,400 crore for keeping city waste free in new budget

Taking forward its commitment to streamline the city’s solid waste management process, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has set aside ₹1,400 crore for keeping the city clean and waste-free in the annual budget for financial year 2023-24, which was approved on Tuesday

Taking forward its commitment to streamline the city’s solid waste management process, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has set aside ₹1,400 crore for keeping the city clean and waste-free in the annual budget for financial year 2023-24, which was approved on Tuesday.

MCG keeps aside ₹1,400 crore for keeping city waste free in new budget

The civic body also allocated a sum of ₹900 crore for constructing roads and rain harvesting projects in the city. Overall, the budget has allocated around ₹2,000 crore for expenditure and also projected a revenue collection of ₹2,300 crore.

The budget will be sent to the Haryana urban local bodies (ULB) for approval on Wednesday, said officials.

Municipal officials said last year, they expected to collect ₹1,100 crore in property tax but could only collect ₹174 crore owing to incorrect details in the database, resulting in reduced collection.

A property tax survey conducted by a private agency in January 2022 found that properties falling under the tax ambit has increased from 307,000 to 514,000.

The MCG created new property IDs based on the survey and then invited objections from residents. Residents claimed that the new IDs had incorrect details, creating a faulty database. They were thus unable to pay property tax leading to a fall in revenue, said officials.

MCG commissioner PC Meena said they prepared the budget after discussion with their teams unlike earlier when a special house meeting is organised to discuss budget proposal with councillors. “Since the term of councillors ended last November, we prepared the budget keeping all development work and revenue collection in mind. We have considered the projects that are required for the development of the city and have ensured that services and amenities for the public have adequate allocation,” he said.

According to officials, ₹1,400 crore has been reserved for health and sanitation services. MCG’s services for solid waste management, garbage clearance, sanitation, fogging, treatment of waste at the Bandhwari landfill, the construction of material recovery facilities, clearance of construction and demolition waste and animal birth control programmes will come under this category.

Meena said their new plan is to process fresh waste at every society and sector and thereby reduce the burden on the landfill. All areas have their own compost pits and undertaking the processing at the local level will make it easier for MCG to process the remaining waste.

“We aim to clear a significant share of the 2.5 million tonnes of legacy waste in Bandhwari and will spend on constructing material recovery facilities, and increase the manpower for collecting waste from households,” he said.

MCG officials said of the ₹2,300 crore, they will spend ₹900 crore on constructing roads, buildings, rainwater harvesting systems, maintenance and bills of agencies hired by them.

Meena said around ₹600 crore will be collected via stamp duty, ₹275 crore will be collected as revenue via property tax, ₹35 crore via building plan approvals, ₹60 crore from water charges, ₹50 crore from advertisements, ₹100 crore from the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran, ₹25 core via land sale, ₹20 crore from land auction and ₹35 crore via FAR (floor area ratio) approvals.

In fiscal 2022-23, the civic body generated only 33% of its projected revenue in the first three quarters -- the fourth quarter will end on March 31. Against a revenue target of ₹3,000 crore, the civic body earned ₹990 crore till December 2022.

On the expenditure front, too, the MCG spent only 33.3% of the funds earmarked for expenditure in the first three quarters of the current fiscal.