BJP plays poll tune on MCD platform

MCD Budget Party lists its achievements; civic body finalises proposals announced earlier. HT reports.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) budget presentation on Friday took the form of a pre-election exercise with the ruling BJP comparing its performance with that of the Congress regime in the Capital.

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With the municipal polls slated for April, the BJP claimed that it did more for the city’s development than the Congress-run government in Delhi.

The MCD is heading for a trifurcation in April and this budget is the last the corporation has presented as a single entity. MCD’s standing committee chairperson Yogender Chandolia, who presented the budget, said the progress made under the ‘united’ MCD would be undone after its division.

He announced a budget of R7,824 crore aimed at local development, an amount that may not even see the light of the day with the corporation ready for the split. Councillors have been allotted Rs 544 crore for financial year 2012-13, almost double the amount allotted in 2011-12.

Local development

Unauthorised areas

Despite the MCD’s inability to spend money in unauthorised colonies, Rs 10 crore and Rs 50 crore have been earmarked for the areas.

For Women

Stipends for girl students have been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 500. MCD has decided to spend Rs 3 crore in building toilets for them.

Increase in pensions

Chandolia has also tried to improve provisions for the aged and disabled by increasing the pension amount from Rs 1,000 a month to Rs 1,200 a month.

RWAs

Rs 12 lakh will be provided to each of the 272 wards. Councillors will spend the amount on local development after close consultation with RWAs in their wards.

Property tax

The MCD aims to increase its property tax collection to Rs 2,500 crore in 2012-13 by extracting it from government offices belonging to CPWD and DDA.