Income and expenses inflated in MCG budget, say councillors

Majority of councillors who were present in budget meeting were new and had no knowledge of budgetary assessment

The 2018-’19 budget of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) received flak from councillors as they objected to the estimation and expenditure assessments in the budget, demanding amendments before sending it to the Haryana government for final approval.

Of the total 35 MCG councillors, 26 councillors were present in the budget meeting which was brought forward from April 9 to April 7 (Parveen Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The budget for 2018-’19 has shown an income of ₹2,290 crore and expenditure of ₹1,884.59 crore. The civic body has also reported a surplus worth ₹406 crore. In the budget for fiscal 2017-’18, the MCG’s income and expenditure were ₹1,657.41 crore and ₹1,327. 87 crore respectively.

Of the total 35 MCG councillors, 26 councillors were present in the budget meeting which was brought forward from April 9 to April 7. The councillors said they were not given adequate time to assess the methodology of budget expenditure and income of previous years.

RS Rathee, councillor of Ward 34, said, “We strongly opposed expenditure and income assessments as they are inflated. Property and fire tax collection worth ₹342 crore is inflated, as the amount includes the backlog of last several years. While only ₹15 crore in revenues was collected from advertisement in the last fiscal, the estimate for fiscal 2018-’19 has been pegged at ₹100 crore. Such an assessment is flawed and we demand an amendment. The budget presented today is full of such inflated figures.”

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Barring a few, most of the councillors present in the budget meeting were new and had little knowledge of budgetary assessment.

“Only three days ago, we got a message about the budget meeting. We had been informed earlier that the meeting will be held on April 9. We are not happy with the budget as it flawed and lacks on many fronts. We were never consulted while officials were preparing the budget. We want the MCG to hold discussions with us before sending it to the government for its approval,” Hemant Kumar, councillorfor Ward 28 said.

Madhu Batra, councillor for Ward 16, said, “The officials have sold us a dream when the city lacks basic amenities. The budget doesn’t provide for amenities for residents in my ward.”

The officials ducked all questions posed by councillors regarding 400 and more outsourced employees, numbers of privately hired vehicles, funds worth ₹150 crore allocated to the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) and ₹500 crore to Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

Yashpal Yadav, MCG commissioner, said, “The objections raised by councillors were addressed by the officials and House approved the budget later It will soon be sent to the government for approval. We took note of the objections and suggestions and they will be incorporated in the budget.”