BMC budget to be tabled today: Focus likely on infra growth, air pollution

Also, for the first time since 1985 and only the second time since the civic body’s formation in 1889, the BMC’s annual budget this year will be presented by the municipal commissioner and state-appointed administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal. He is currently the sole authority in the civic body. There are no sitting corporators whose terms got over in March last year. Elections have not taken place yet.

Last year, the BMC announced a Rs 45,949-crore budget, with the focus on strengthening the health infrastructure.

Sources in the civic body said that this year’s budget will see an optimum allocation of funds for the development and construction of roads, bridges and Storm Water Drains (SWD) in Mumbai.

Sources also said that several ambitious projects like the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR), desalination plant and the second phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP), which will connect Versova in the western suburbs with Dahisar in the northern end of the city, will find mention in the budget.

“This year’s budget will focus mainly on uplifting the city’s infrastructure. The outlay is being made towards fulfilling the much needed push towards strengthening the existing infra network as well as completing and starting several of our announced projects,” said a civic official.

Another key aspect, which is likely to find place in this year’s budget, is formulating remedial measures towards mitigating air pollution in Mumbai.

It is pertinent to note that on Thursday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde instructed the municipal commissioner to install air purifier towers across city along the lines in Delhi, Gurugram and Lucknow.

The BMC in the 2022-23 budget announced the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) in a bid to mitigate several environmental challenges the city is facing and to create a uniform platform for addressing global climate change by forming a Climate Action Cell (CAC). However, this proposal has remained on paper.

Meanwhile, between November 2022 and January 2023, Mumbai has experienced ‘poor’ to ‘very Poor’ Air Quality Index (AQI) on most of the days and the civic administration failed to come up with any guidelines towards mitigating the issue.

“Based on the CM’s proposal the civic body will set up air purifier towers in five different locations in Mumbai,” said another official.

Besides this, despite being an election year, the BMC is unlikely to issue any new tax rebates. Earlier, in 2022, the BMC had announced property tax waiver on residential units of or less than 500 square feet.