MBMC budget: Corporator funds trimmed from ₹25 crore to ₹16 crore

Mira-Bhayandar: Setting a precedent, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal (MBMC) chief in his capacity as the administrator has significantly trimmed the annual ward development funds from ₹25 crore to ₹16 crore allocated to corporators in the annual budget for the current fiscal.

The reduction is in accordance with state government guidelines mandating the allotment of not more than 2% of the civic body’s total revenue towards such funding to municipal corporators.

Move to curb unplanned expenditure

However, the rules were being conveniently bent every year by the elected body. The five-year term of the BJP-led MBMC ended in August 2022 and the municipal commissioner used it as a window to curb unplanned expenditure, which hurts the financial interest of the municipality.

Notably, allocations amounting to ₹73 crore for 95 elected representatives had been earmarked towards discretionary development funds in the budget for the current fiscal. This is apart from the annual ward development funds allocated to each corporator.

Leading the pack of office-bearers is the Mayor with ₹4.5 crore and the deputy mayor with ₹4 crore, followed by the standing committee chairman (₹3.5 crore), leader of the house (₹1.5 crore), leader of the opposition (₹1 crore) and remaining corporators with a total of ₹25 crore at their discretion.

The spending limit of the mayor and other office bearers have been reduced drastically, said an official. The MBMC unveiled a ₹2,174.54 crore budget having ₹25 lakh as surplus for the year 2023-24 on Monday. The budget was formulated at the administrative level by the civic chief Dilip Dhole in his capacity as the state-appointed administrator.