5 yrs on, Left returns to a rich KMC

The last financial report of the KMC for the period 2003-2004 shows a total receipt of Rs 732.8 crores, a staggering 22.7 per cent increase over the figures for 2002-2003.

‘‘When we got the KMC in 2000, it was in a financial mess. There had been no audit for the past 12 years; Rs 79 crores from the providend fund had been spent on other expenditures. Above that, 1,000 block sarkars were appointed and another 1,000 were supposed to be appointed,’’ said Sovandeb Chatterjee, Trinamool legislator and a trade union leader in the KMC.

‘‘The Mayor’s office had become a party office when the LF was in power. The Mayor’s office used to execute party orders,’’ he added.

But Bikash Bhattacharya, all set to take charge as the LF’s Mayor, begs to differ. ‘‘The KMC was heavily dependent on the state government. At that time, the state government itself was going through tough times. So naturally, the funds it could provide to the KMC was less. For the past five years, the same LF government has provided double the amount to the outgoing Board. And this is reflected in the financial report,’’ he said.

But the financial report indicates otherwise. In the 2000-2001 report, the ratio of government grant to the total revenue receipts of the KMC stood at 49.34 per cent. In 2003-2004, the government’s contribution to the KMC’s total revenue had gone down to 36.3 per cent.

KMC officials too admitted that there was a stark difference between the situation then and now. Sources in the KMC said the earlier LF Board had no records of the vast KMC properties that existed, and the dependence on the State Government was so high that even the corporation’s staff could not get their salaries if the government did not provide funds.

Subrata’s Board is credited with having introduced discipline into the institution. It made a number of changes, including computerised tax receipts, improved collection systems, new water supply booster stations, and free health insurance of upto Rs 50,000 for KMC employees. But perhaps the most significant change in the KMC during the Trinamool’s term was the trimming of staff by a whopping 13,000 employees.