Thane: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) have not announced their budgets for 2023-24, even as their counterparts BMC and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) announced theirs on February 4 and 17, respectively.
Sources from the TMC and the KDMC informed that considering the forthcoming municipal elections, there should be a substantial provision for the development of these two civic bodies. They said strong efforts are being made at the government level to strengthen the budgetary position of the corporations by diverting some government funds.
The civic administrations are under the control of MP Shrikant Shinde and there should not be any dearth of funds for development works, said a source close to Shinde.
A political expert from Thane said, “The budget would be presented immediately once the state government funds will be given to both the corporations. For the first time after many years, the budget presentation of these two civic bodies has been delayed.”
Draft budget is ready since November 2022
Since November last year, the civic bodies have prepared the draft budget by taking information about development works in various departments and also the availability of funds. Experts and office bearers of the two corporations expressed surprise over the delay.
One of the officials from the property tax department of KDMC said, “As the revenue sources of the civic body have decreased, most of the municipalities are dependent on grants and funds received from the government. If this fund is not available, a municipal corporation like KDMC cannot undertake any development work from its revenue.”
An official said, “KDMC is short of Rs 1,200 crore this year compared to last year. In the name of computerisation, the online system of the civic body was suspended for seven to eight months. It has affected revenue generation. So far, more than Rs 300 crore has been collected as property tax. The target of Rs 425 crore will be met by the end of March.”
"Even though the financial condition of TMC is good and the administration is at the forefront in terms of development works, it also needs additional funds to take up the stalled works to aggressively face the rivals,” a TMC source said.
