Mumbai: Ex-corporators ask BMC chief to seek inputs before budget

The Congress, NCP and Samajwadi Party (SP) have written a common letter to BMC Commissioner Dr Iqbal Singh Chahal demanding that he should take suggestions from former corporators, NGOs and people before preparation of the financial budget 2023-24.

At present, the civic commissioner, in his capacity as administrator, is running the BMC because the term of all corporators had come to an end on Mar 8, 2022. The BMC election has not yet taken place and therefore, this year the administrator will present the financial budget of the civic body. The BMC budget is more than Rs40,000 crore, which is more than the budget of a small state in India. “Therefore, the administrator should take suggestions from public representatives, NGOs, ALMs and former corporators,” the letter said.

The letter also stated that the BMC should create a portal on the MCGM website and should seek suggestions from former corporators and public representatives on the web portal. Thereafter, the financial budget should be uploaded on the MCGM website for the public.

The BMC administrator will be presenting the annual budget after 36 years. This time around, there will be no presence of public representatives (corporators) on the budget day. The administrator had last presented the budget in 1984 and 1985. According to sources, BMC's financial budget is likely to be presented on Feb 3, as per rules of the MMC Act, 1887, which mandates that the budget be presented annually in the first week of February.

Usually, the BMC commissioner presents the budget book to the standing committee and thereafter, reads important points before it. However, this year it is likely that he will only distribute the budget book.