Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher alongwith top brass of UT Administration on Wednesday sought more funds for the union territory for fiscal year 2020-21 at the meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs held in New Delhi.
Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma chaired the meeting of the committee to look into the demands of union territories. Manoj Parida, Adviser to UT Administration, UT Finance Secretary Ajoy Kumar Sinha among other senior officers attended the meeting alongwith Kirron Kher.
During the meeting, MP Kirron Kher reiterated that the cash-strapped Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) needs more funds for implementation of various projects in the city.
The MCC did not get the budget allocation as per the recommendations of the fourth Delhi Finance Commission, Kher said.
She further said that the Administration also need funds for smart metering project and smart city projects.
Notably, Chandigarh has been allocated Rs 5138.10 crore for the next financial year 2020-21 by the Union Government against the demand of Rs 5658 crore by the UT Administration.
Of the total budget allocation of Rs 5138.10 crore, UT got Rs 4643.96 crore under the revenue head and Rs 494.14 crore under the capital head. The budget outlay for 2020-21 for Chandigarh had increased by 8.1 percent from the current fiscal year.
However, the Union Budget 2020-21 did not bring the much-needed monetary relief to the cash-strapped MCC. The civic body had earlier this month passed the budget with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,471 crore against its estimated income of Rs 397 crore and Rs 425 crore allocated under the Union Budget.
Meanwhile, the major allocation by Union Budget to various sectors in Chandigarh for next fiscal 2020-21 included Rs 561.36 cr allocation to Police, Rs 843.73 cr to education, Rs 963.47 cr to Housing and Urban Development, Rs 294.96 cr to Transport, Rs 962.75 cr to energy sector, Rs 522 cr to health among others.
In 2019-20, the Administration had sought a budget of Rs 4976 cr but was allocated Rs 4868 cr.