BMC budget not good news for city’s poor

While the latest census figures show that Mumbai’s slums are home to 53% of the city’s population, the civic budget presented on Tuesday proposes to spend barely 1% on improving these slums. Kunal Purohit reports.

Consider this: While the latest census figures show that Mumbai’s slums are home to 53% of the city’s population, the civic budget presented on Tuesday proposes to spend barely 1% on improving these slums.

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Further, property tax is proposed for every slum, irrespective of its legal status; and the hike in water charges for slums is much higher than for other residential connections.

In a budget that saw the BMC present its largest outlay ever, urban development experts say the largest chunk of the city’s population has got a raw deal.

“To tax the city’s poor further is very problematic, especially since they already end up paying a lot more for basic services such as water and health,” said Dr Sandhya Iyer, faculty member with the Centre for Development Studies, TISS.