No more equal shares: needy wards to get more in budget

The Human Development Index of Mumbai of last year,pointing to the best and worst of the citys 24 wards,will be the main determinant of the 2010-11 municipal budget,expected Wednesday.

The Human Development Index (HDI) of Mumbai of last year,pointing to the best and worst of the citys 24 wards,will be the main determinant of the 2010-11 municipal budget,expected Wednesday.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will seek to bridge the gap between the best and the worst with more funds for slums and other areas in need of basic amenities.

The report,prepared by the BMC with the UN Development Programme,measured HDI at ward level,using as parameters population,literacy rate and infant mortality,and ranking wards in the order of performance. More funds will go to areas with lower education and higher mortality.

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Wards with low HDI rankings including M/East (Govandi,Mankhurd ranked 24),L (Kurla ranked 23),M/West (Chembur,Tilak Nagar,Mahul ranked 22). Even F/North (Matunga) and H/East (Santacruz),ranked 21 and 20,will receive a large chunk of funds for slum development projects. Funds for ward level projects will also be diverted to wards that need civic amenities more urgently.

So far funds for slum development,sanitation and other projects were divided equally among all 24 wards. Now,the allocation will be greater for wards with the lowest HDI rankings. Wards like D have no slums and may not get any slum development funds, an official said. Wards in the island city,including D (Walkeshwar,Girgaon),C (Bhuleshwar,Kalbadevi) and A (Colaba) are among the top three with a high index.

Another highlight is that the budget will be outcome-based for four flagship departments: storm water drains,water,health and education. A monitoring and evaluation cell will assess performance against targets every quarter. The other 19 departments will also have a set of thrust areas and measures to achieve them.

An output-based budget was part of last years proposals but it will be implemented from 2010-11.

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Citizens participation in the monitoring of projects will be another first. Citizens will have a say in major projects in education and health so that the BMC can assess if the common man is getting the fruits of the money spent. The citizens mandate,negative or positive,will be considered in deciding whether to continue schemes like the tetra pack milk for students during mid-day meals,school bags and other stationery in civic run-schools are worth it.

WARDSWORTH
Bottom 5
M/East (Govandi,Mankhurd)
L (Kurla)
M/West (Chembur,Tilak Nagar,Mahul)
F/North (Matunga)
H/East (Santacruz)

Top 3
D (Walkeshwar,Girgaon)
C (Bhuleshwar,Kalbadevi)
A (Colaba)

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No more equal shares: needy wards to get more in budget

The Human Development Index of Mumbai of last year,pointing to the best and worst of the citys 24 wards,will be the main determinant of the 2010-11 municipal budget,expected Wednesday.

The Human Development Index of Mumbai of last year,pointing to the best and worst of the citys 24 wards,will be the main determinant of the 2010-11 municipal budget,expected Wednesday.