The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in its budget 2024-25  announced geotagging of all properties,  hosting a Tulip festival and redevelopment of the sewerage system. Among his other announcements were modernising the dhobi ghats, acquiring electric bikes and scooters for field staff, providing uninterrupted water supply and giving health cards to students of NDMC schools. The NDMC budget also proposed to make available untied funds of Rs 10 crore for residents’ welfare associations and market trade associations in the NDMC area for 2024-25 with an objective to provide scope for local initiatives and flexibility for local action by them.

The NDMC budget 2024-25 showed a total expenditure of Rs.4,829.36 crore against Rs. 4,568.21 crore provided in revised estimate (RE) 2023-24 and actual of Rs. 3,999.31 crore in 2022-23. “The total receipts of the Budget Estimate for 2024-25 are Rs 5,069.63 crore against Rs 4,888.93 crore provided in the Revised Estimate for 2023-24. The actual receipts in 2022-23 was Rs 4,302.79 crore. This is the first time that the budget of the NDMC has gone over Rs 5,000 crore,” NDMC chairman Amit Yadav said while presenting the budget for the year 2024-25. The total actual receipts in 2022-23 were Rs 4,302.79 crore. The budget estimate (BE) 2024-25 for the revenue receipts are Rs.4,444.36 crore against Rs. 4,293.51. crore provided in Revised Estimate 2023-24 and actual of Rs.3,894.67 crore in 2022-23. The BE for capital receipts are Rs.625.27 crore against Rs. 595.42 crore provided in RE 2023-24 and actual of Rs.408.12 crore in 2022-23. The capital expenditure is projected at Rs. 434.07 crore in BE this year against Rs.309.67 crore in revised estimate in 2023-24 and actual of Rs. 143.04 crore in 2022-23,” he said.

The BE for revenue expenditure are Rs. 4,395.30 crore against Rs. 4,258.55 crore provided in RE 2023-24 and actual of Rs. 3,856.27 crore in 2022-23. NDMC is expecting to collect Property Tax of Rs.1,150 crore in Revised Estimates 2023-24 and Rs.1,150 crore in 2024-25. The actual receipts in 2022-23 for License Fee from Municipal Properties stood at Rs. 628.69 crore. The Projections for RE 2023-24 are at Rs. 825.11 crore and BE 2024-25 are at Rs. 825.11 crore.

The NDMC has also approved the proposal to increase 1% of transfer duty for both male and female from 1.8.2023 which will ensure additional revenue of Rs.15 crore approximately each year from 2023-24 onward.

Yadav said the total revenue receipts from Electricity Distribution Strategic Business Unit (EDSBU) have been projected in 2023-24 at Rs.1,455.18 crore as against actual Rs.1577.51 crore in the year 2022-23. The projections for BE 2024-25 are at Rs. 1,565.05 crore.

Talking about the G-20 Summit, Yadav said, “This year was a milestone for the NDMC as we had to prepare New Delhi for hosting the G-20 summit, under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The NDMC devoted itself to ensuring the success of this significant event and took numerous initiatives to prepare the city to welcome our guests from across the world. Through the concerted efforts of team NDMC we not only met but exceeded the expectations.”

On issue of pollution, the NDMC chairman said the Council has implemented a range of proactive measures to combat environmental pollution through promoting greenery and expanding the green cover to mitigate the spread of dust, deployed Smog Guns, Mechanical Road Sweepers, to switch to only electric vehicles in a phased manner and have augmented e-charging points to support use of electric vehicles in NDMC area.

NDMC has procured two lakh tulip bulbs for the winter to enhance the city’s aesthetics and to add colour to its landscape, he said, adding that the civic body is planning to make the Tulip Festival an annual event.

 Noting that the city infrastructure needs to be upgraded with passage of time, Yadav said the NDMC has asked the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to sanction projects worth Rs 556 crore under the Urban Development Fund (UDF) scheme for rehabilitation of the NDMC sewerage system.

“This will enable NDMC to augment the sewerage system in a phased manner within a span of five years,” he said. The NDMC is also working on an amendment to the NDMC Act, 1994 to align with current global best practices, he said.

“As part of our tax reform process we will implement geotagging of all properties starting from the next financial year i.E. 2024-25. Geotagging will mandate uploading the photos of taxpayers’ properties through mobile app or the NDMC website for easy identification and tracking,” he said.

Yadav also announced that the Charak Palika Hospital will soon get an ICU facility and blood storage unit. “The work regarding procurement of equipment for ICU is in advanced stages and likely to be completed by March, 2024,” he said.

Yadav said NDMC has created an ‘Innovation Fund’, and a committee will be set up to lay down the modalities for projects. “The first of such projects: bioremediation-based innovative hybrid technology is being used to clean the partial open portion of Kushak nallah from 11 Murthi SP Marg to Kemal Ataturk Marg about 2 km in length,” he said. “It is proposed that this fund will be used for a long-term solution that ensures that untreated water does not flow into Kushak Nala or Yamuna,” he added.

Yadav also announced that a comprehensive project for upgradation of ‘dhobi ghats’ will be launched. In the Budget it is proposed to make available Untied Funds of Rs. 10 crore for the Resident Welfare Association (RWAs) and Market Trade Associations (MTAs) of the NDMC area for the year 2024-25 with an objective to provide scope for local initiatives and flexibility for local action by the RWAs/ MTAs.

“NDMC is also working on amendment to the NDMC Act, 1994 to align with current global best practices, to factor our learning experiences over the last three decades, ensuring ease of doing business, reducing regulatory burden and carrying out reforms including tax reforms,” he said.