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No new civic taxes but water bills may increase: Bhushan Gagrani

Jan 25, 2025 10:35 AM IST

He agreed that capital expenditure has been rising but, he pointed out, this was attributed to the massive infrastructure projects being undertaken by the BMC.

MUMBAI: There will be no new taxes in the upcoming civic budget, even the proposed user fee on solid waste management will not be imposed, but an 8% increase in water charges is likely.

Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)
Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

This is what municipal commissioner and administrator, Bhushan Gagrani, revealed ahead of his first-ever budget to be presented on February 5. He also said there would be no new projects announced in the budget, while discussing a range of issues that impact Mumbaiites, in an informal tété-a tété with select members of the media on Friday.

He agreed that capital expenditure has been rising but, he pointed out, this was attributed to the massive infrastructure projects being undertaken by the BMC. The capex allocation was 31,775 crore of the total budgetary allocation of 59,955 crore for 2024-25, the highest-ever for the BMC. Of this, 61% went towards construction of the Coastal Road, followed by 71% towards bridges and flyovers and 58% towards road works.

“We will stagger payment of all capital works for the next 4-5 years. So, in the next two years, it may not be a major issue. But, after that, there will be a liquidity crunch, not a resource crunch because payments of all bills will come in at the same time, that is, after two years. We are figuring out ways to strengthen resources.” he said.

Gagrani said that auctioning of plots owned by the BMC was one way to generate revenue to meet rising capital expenditure. “We will also request the government to revise our taxes (property tax and water charges). Also, redevelopment of buildings is generating good revenue every year,” he added.

On why the auction of two prime plots had been put on hold, Gagrani said the auction of the Malabar Hill plot was cancelled recently because the BEST was insistent on not handing over the plot as it hosts a receiving station for power supply to the entire Malabar Hill area. The auction of the CSMT plot is on hold as fishermen had asked for the plot and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had intervened. He said it needs to be conveyed to the CM that a plot for a fish market has already been given to them.

Gagrani said the promenade of the Coastal Road will be complete by May and work on the median after the monsoon. “The underpasses are complete, and garden work will be completed in two years. All civil works will be completed by December,” he added.

Asked why the draft hoarding policy was on the backburner, Gagrani said the assembly elections late last year had held it up. After that, the Dilip Bhosale committee wanted to take a look at the policy. “We decided a delay of a few months wouldn’t matter because we are taking measures as per the policy on ground.”

The Maharashtra government had appointed a committee headed by former Chief Justice of the Allahabad high court Dilip Bhosale to conduct an inquiry into the May 13 collapse of a massive billboard in Ghatkopar that killed 16 persons and injured many others.

The discussion then veered to the long-standing issue of road concretisation. With 12,000 crore spent on almost 800 km of roads, Gagrani said concretisation is the only solution to tackling Mumbai’s pothole problem. “Going forward, we will have to be very strict with utilities. There will be no digging after a road is concretised. I have written to all departments, saying they will not get trenching permission for the next 20 years. They will have to complete their works now.”

Gagrani admitted that a few newly concretised roads had developed cracks and added that the BMC would make sure this didn’t happen again. “There is a lapse in monitoring at the RMC (ready mix concrete) plant and during curing there is an oversight from those present at the plant. So, consultants such as quality monitoring assurance (QMAs) are held accountable where they will be penalised for an oversight,” added Gagrani.

Regarding controlling Air Quality Index (AQI) levels, Gagrani said only knee-jerk reactions like stopping work at construction sites would bring down pollution levels. “It is a weather phenomenon plus a localised man-made regulatory mechanism. So one doesn’t really know of a concrete solution to tackle this,” he added.

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