BMC budgetary estimates cross Rs 50,000 crore-mark and capex more than 50%: civic chief

Mumbai: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner and administrator I S Chahal on Saturday said the budgetary estimates for FY 2023-24 have crossed the Rs 50,000 crore-mark and the capital expenditure is more than 50 per cent, both unprecedented in the history of the country's richest civic body.

The BMC has presented Rs 52,619.07 crore budget for the year 2023-24.

This is for the first time after 1985 that the Mumbai civic administration presented the budget to an administrator as the five-year term of corporators ended last year.

Chahal said health, education, environment, and transparency are the main thrust areas of the budget which has also given importance to infrastructure.

He said 37 years ago, then civic commissioner Kanga had presented a full budget as an administrator, and that he followed that example.

Queried about Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray's demand for presenting an interim budget in the absence of an elected body, Chahal said the budget will be reappropriated once the new body comes to power.

"This is for the first time in the history of BMC that the budget estimates have crossed the Rs 50,000 crore-mark. It has never happened in the history of the BMC that the capital expenditure is more than 50 per cent," he told a press conference.

He said of the current fiscal's budget estimate of Rs 45,949 crore, about 55.6 per cent or Rs 25,553 crore has been spent till January 2023-end.

Chahal said the civic body's FDs increased to Rs 88,000 crore from around Rs 77,000 crore, and this year they are getting an additional Rs 277 crore from the anticipated income due to a hike in the interest rate.  The civic body received 962 suggestions from citizens about the budget and 50 per cent of these recommendations were accepted.

Based on one such suggestion, the BMC will come up with the "pedestrian first" policy wherein footpath will be constructed on either side of roads whose width is 9 metres or more.   Chahal said he had received 8-9 written suggestions from chief minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadanvis and most of them have been incorporated.  "Since I was appointed by the government, it was my duty to follow the orders," he said.

One such feature based on these suggestions will be the launch of "Aarogyam Kutumbam” (Family Health). Chahal said 15,000 health workers will go door to door and screen 35.1 lakh families living in the BMC jurisdiction for hypertension and diabetic patients. "This will be a permanent scheme in BMC," he added.  Chahal cited a survey by BMC to inform that the incidence of hypertension in the Mumbai suburban district is 27.33 per cent against the national average of 22 per cent. "Similarly, 20.38 per cent of citizens in suburban Mumbai are diabetic while the national average and the Maharashtra average stand at 14.5 per cent and 13.02 per cent, respectively. Most importantly, citizens are unaware they are suffering from these diseases," he said.  The BMC will launch a scheme for 41,774 students studying classes 9 and 10 in 249 civic-run schools based on another suggestion from the CM, DyCM, and skills development minister Mangalprabhat Lodha, Chahal added.

As per this scheme, existing schools will be renamed as "Mumbai Public Schools and Skill Centers" and students will be provided vocational training for artificial intelligence, parallel fashion designing, robotics, automobile technology, electronics, tourism etc, to make them employment-ready.

Under the Air Pollution Mitigation Plan, the civic body will install 14 air purification towers for Rs 3.5 crore in each of the seven administrative zones, apart from setting up air purifying machines at another five locations in the city. For installing these towers, a sum of Rs 50 crore has been earmarked in the budget.  "These towers will bring down 45 per cent of pollutants within the one-km radius. A single tower costs Rs 3.5 crore. This is proven technology worldwide," said Chahal.  Notably, CM Shinde had proposed installing air purifiers, but Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray questioned the effectiveness of these purifiers.  When asked if there was any suggestion from Aaditya Thackeray, he replied in the negative.

Speaking on city transport and green energy, Chahal said the number E-buses in the BEST fleet will go up to 3,400 by the end of 2023.

"Besides, 3,500 CNG buses will join the BEST's fleet in the future, taking the number of clean fuel fleet to 7,000. We will double the number of buses and ensure that they do not create any pollution," he said.  Chahal said 1,300 of 7,934 classrooms in BMC schools will be made digital in the next financial year as per the suggestion made by the CM. He said adequate provision has been made in the budget estimates of Rs 3,347 crore for FY 24.

He said 520 work orders have been issued for the beautification of Mumbai and the work needs to be completed in the current financial year.

"1,200 more such works will be undertaken in FY 2023-24 for which a provision of Rs 1,729 crore has been made. Rs 16 crore will be spent for the facelift of the Gateway of India," he added.

Chahal said bids worth Rs 9,000 crore will be invited for the Versova to Dahisar and Rs 4,000 crore for Dahisar to Mira-Bhayander Coastal Road project by this month's end.

At least 12 new projects were announced in the Budget including digital classrooms and air quality monitoring.

Chahal also said the BMC won't need to build the Gargai dam for which 5 lakh trees need to be felled. "If the STPs (Sewage Treatment Plants) are built, the city will get 200 MLD water and there will also be a provision to increase it to 400 MLD," he added.