BMC Budget 2023: Special care for women, transgender community & senior citizens

In its 2023-24 budget, the BMC has planned a massive boost for women from economically-weaker sections besides differently abled people, senior citizens and transgenders. From ₹40.38 crore gender budget in last fiscal, the civic body has hiked the corpus to ₹250 crore for this financial year.

Apart from utilising the funds for giving conventional training of sewing and making traditional goods, the BMC harbours the ambition of giving lessons on stock market and computer operation to the women. It will also help women, who wish to travel abroad for job purposes, with legal formalities.

Special care for women, senior citizens

To be implemented by the civic body's planning department, the plan also aims to make the women well-versed with marketing, self-defence and professional cooking. Providing assistance to the senior citizen women is also on the anvil.

Budget for Self-Help Groups

To economically support the self-help groups (SHGs) and care for the homeless, the BMC has made a provision of ₹11.88 crore. It will also organise ward-wise and regional exhibitions to publicise products made by the SHGs. Next, it will construct one hostel each for working women in seven zones for which a fund of ₹21 crore has been earmarked.

₹100 crore for financial assistance scheme

A massive outlay of ₹100 crore has been allocated for the financial assistance scheme. Under the initiative, the BMC will provide sewing machines, flour mills, and spice-making and incense sticks machines to make the women self-dependent. Electric vehicles, including bikes and rickshaws, will also be allotted if the applicant fulfils the criteria.

₹25 crore for differently-abled

For differently-abled, the BMC has earmarked ₹25.32 crore which will be spent on buying self-employment machineries for these people. They will also not be charged for travelling in BEST buses. Another ₹2 crore will be utilised for the skill development of transgenders, while ₹11.35 crore has been allocated for senior citizens.