Recession dents earnings, MCD to cut

No prizes for guessing this! The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will focus on Commonwealth Games related projects and parking lots in the new financial year the budget
for 2010-11 sets aside a huge chunk for these projects.

On Wednesday, MCD commissioner K S Mehra unveiled the budget of Rs 6,000 crore for financial year 2010-2011. The civic body expects to earn Rs 6,347 crore next year while it has pegged the expenditure at Rs 6,327 crore. However, this year it could earn only Rs 4,964 crore against the target of Rs 6,000 crore.

The lower earning is primarily on account of lower property tax collection. The civic agency earned Rs 542 crore in property tax till November 16, 2009-10, which is Rs 85 crore more than what was collected in the same period last year. However, there is a strong possibility that the target of property tax for 2009-10 Rs 1,400 crore might not be achieved.

The transfer duty earnings have also come down due to recession. Moreover, MCD's revenue collection from advertisement has also fallen short so much so that it has revised its estimate by half from Rs 300 crore to Rs 150 crore. The civic agency also promises to cut down on avoidable and non-productive expenditure. Said Mehra: "Efforts are being made to bring more people and institutions under the tax net. We are also introducing better practices like tracking down dishonoured cheques and designing a proper logo for receipts issued by us so that they cannot be forged.''

Meanwhile, money will be mainly spent on sanitation, cleanliness, engineering works, health and education sectors. A total of Rs 989.55 crore has been allocated to engineering and development works this financial year.

The allocation for environment management has been increased from Rs 835.22 crore to Rs 844.26 crore, while that for primary education it has been increased to Rs 1441.76 crore from Rs 1231.20 crore and for health to Rs 847 crore from Rs 758.11 crore. For horticulture, another key area in which MCD will carry our works related to Commonwealth Games, the allocation has been raised to Rs 206.89 crore from Rs 203.92 crore.

Said Mehra: "Work on bus parking sites over Sunehri, Kushak and DPS nallah near main Games venue Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will be completed by March 2010. The work on upgrading and streetscaping of 20 roads will be over by June 30, 2010. All works related to the Games will be completed on time.''

He added: "We have also started work on a Rs 236 crore ambitious project for upgrading the areas near hotels and guest houses in Karol Bagh, Paharganj and City Zone.''

To end the city's parking woes, the civic agency has come up with a number of stack parking, automated parking and multi-level parking sites.

To increase its revenue, MCD has identified 12 prime locations, including land behind Ghazipur village, vacant plot behind Hanuman Mandir near Baba Kharak Singh Marg, emptied Idgah slughterhouse, to commercially exploit them.