The civic budget is required to be cleared by March 31. (Representational)
New Delhi:
A special meeting called at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi headquarters on Tuesday to discuss and deliberate on the civic budget was adjourned for the day soon after it convened.
Mayor Shelly Oberoi said the session would resume at 2 pm on Wednesday.
A few members had claimed they did not get adequate time to go through the budget document and so time has been allowed till the session resumes on Wednesday, she said.
Tuesday’s session was scheduled to commence at 2 pm but began 15 minutes late. Proceedings had taken place for a brief period when the mayor adjourned the session.
As required by the norms, the civic budget is to be cleared by March 31.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) passed the “schedule of taxes” in the civic budget for 2023-24 on February 15. But the remaining budget process was stalled as the civic body’s standing committee is yet to be elected.
Municipal Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti had presented the MCD budget to the Special Officer on December 8 and it included the Revised Estimate for 2022-23 and the Budget Estimate for 2023-24.
The civic budget is worth Rs 16,023 crore and puts focus on areas such as sanitation, education and health.
A piece of land measuring 47.346 acres has been allocated by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for a landfill site in Tehkhand area near Okhla, out of which 32.346 acres will be used for setting up an engineering landfill site, work of which is expected to be completed by April 2023, according to the budget speech of the commissioner, made last December.
Delhi has three sanitary landfill sites located at Ghazipur, Okhla, and Bhalswa. This proposed “engineering landfill site” will be city’s first such site, they said.
The current three landfill sites in Delhi are spread over an area of 202 acres in total, according to the speech.
In the budget, the commissioner also said that CCTV cameras have been installed at 570 school locations, and proposals have been sent for other schools.
According to the MCD, the revised budget estimates for 2022-22 stands at Rs 14,80,429 lakh (expenditure), while the budget estimate for 2023-24 stands at Rs 16,02,355 lakh (expenditure).
Also, 1.5 lakh plants along with flower pots are planned to be bought in view of the G20 meetings, the budget had added.
The MCD had earlier said the “special budget meeting” for proposals for the Revised Estimates for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 would be held on Tuesday at Aruna Asaf Ali Meeting Hall at 2 pm.
Earlier, the MCD had written to the Delhi government, seeking permission to call a special session to clear the budget before March end.
If the entire budget is not passed by March 31, things may “get into a limbo”, a source said on Friday.
The allocations made in the budget to various departments is key to proper civic functioning.
The “schedule of taxes” was passed by the MCD’s special officer, whose office ceased to exist after the election of the mayor.
The taxes, rates and cesses to be levied in 2023-24 will remain the same that are prevalent as of today, the MCD said in a statement on February 15.
Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP in a statement said that the “Aam Aadmi Party should restore 15 per cent exemption for timely deposit of property tax in the 2023-24 budget and withdraw the five per cent increase in commercial property tax”.
At a press conference here, senior BJP leader Vijendra Gupta alleged that the AAP, which talks about the public, has “conspired to pass the budget in a single day without consulting and discussing with the public”.
BJP leader Manoj Tiwari alleged that the Kejriwal government “did not notify 351 roads for thee years only to defame the BJP-ruled municipal corporation”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled the civic bodies from 2007-12.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a statement said the BJP’s claims regarding the adjournment are “completely rubbish and baseless”.
The meeting was convened and then adjourned “as per the rules”. It had to be adjourned after some members of the House claimed that “they did not have enough time to read the budget estimates”, it said.
Thus, a copy of the estimates has been circulated to every councillor, and the session has been adjourned till Wednesday 2 pm, so they have “ample time” to read it, the statement said.
The entire exercise was done to ensure better discussion in the meeting. The BJP is resorting to “personal attacks” against our leaders as it is still “unable to digest its defeat in the civic elections”, it added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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