Keeping an eye on the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is likely to present a populist Budget on December 18. The ruling-BJP is making all out efforts to woo voters while keeping the special focus on ensuring development in unauthorised colonies.
like previous years, this time too, it will once again be “no fresh property tax” Budget. “We are not going to approve any new taxes in the Budget. In fact, our corporation is the only civic agency which has never taken a loan from the Delhi Government in the past three years,” said Subhash Arya, Chairman of SDMC Standing Committee.
The Budget proposal is expected to accord extra emphasis on all-round development in unauthorised colonies. Recently, the corporation allotted `37 crore for developmental works in the areas under SDMC. The developmental works include improvements of lanes, better roads and upkeep of dhaloghars (garbage dumps). It may be noted that SDMC had already released `50 crore for the development of 86 rural villages.
Sanitation will be taken up as one of the core issues in the Budget proposals on Tuesday. The corporation released `10 lakh for carrying out sanitation-related works to every councillor. “SDMC is focused to ensure development-related works in all the areas, especially SDMC’s unauthorised and rural areas. This fund is a crucial step in this direction,” said an official.
The SDMC commissioner Manish Gupta will present the Budget in the special Standing Committee meeting on Tuesday. The BJP-ruled SDMC Budget is expected to set the ball rolling for the upcoming Delhi polls. While some officials are ready for an early Budget, others are anxious about the quality of the Budget proposals.
This is the first time that the civic agency is heading for early Budget session owing to the Assembly elections in the Capital. Usually, the Budget session begins in the early week of December and goes on till mid-February. With a host of questions being raised at MCD’s performance, BJP is trying to turn the criticism into accolades by announcing an array of populist measures.