BMC faces runaway deficit

The reasons for the plumeting revenue, officials say, are varied though they admit that frugality is not among the employees8217; virtues. However, apart from wasteful expenditure, unrealistic estimates and unexpected hurdles in revenue collection have also been gnawing at the corporation8217;s coffers at a worrisomerate.

Ram Mhatre, Mayor-in-Council MiC member in charge of revenue, says he is hamstrung for an explanation and is not willing to extend any assurances. 8220;I have introduced some stringent measures to check expenditure but it will take some time before results are visible,8221; was all he was willing to say. Hitting the panic button a fortnight ago was Mayor Nandu Satam, who issued a circular imposing several cost-cutting measures like directing employees to switch off fans and airconditioners before leaving the premises, skimping on stationery, using both sides of a sheet of paper while photocopying and banning the use of cellular phones in the office.

A similar circular was issued by Municipal Commissioner Girish Gokhale in October last year, when the Rs 376-crore deficit jolted the administration out of its slumber. But the attempt was obviously futile. Employees, whose salaries account for about 80 per cent of the BMC8217;s outgoings, did precious little to arrest outgoings.

Without exception, however,none of the BMC8217;s nine departments delinated for revenue collection has got anywhere near their respective targets for the first six months ending June 1998.

Octroi, for instance, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of the corporations8217;s revenue, fell short by Rs 71 crore in the first six months ending June this year. The Octroi Department, which was taken over by Mayor Nandu Satam when the Mayor-in-Council was instituted, had increased the levy on certain commodities like tobacco, machine parts, iron and steel, rubber, some milk products, butter and medicines. Though the department is not willing to divulge statistics, it had collected about Rs 3 crore on medicines alone before the proposal was suspended recently. Still its collection appears to be sucked into an ever-deepening black hole.

Keeping measures to increase collection under wraps in view of next year8217;s budget presentation, Satam says: 8220;Even if we fail to meet the target this year, we shall definitely cover it up for it next year.8221;

TheBuilding Proposals Department is beset by a unique dilemma. While setting its target for the current financial year, it had accounted for Rs 50 crore in earnings that would have accured from the regularisation of lofts. However, though a deicision to this effect was taken by the House in August 1997, the relevant file has been growing cobwebs in the state government8217;s Urban Development Department. The resultant collection from this source: zilch.

The Markets Department is similarly hamstrung. As a fallout of the hawkers8217; zoning proposal, the Bombay High Court in August directed the BMC to stop collecting fees from these vendors. This has snatched Rs 5 lakh per day from the BMC8217;s treasury.

If the BMC8217;s revenue collection is not skewed enough, the administration8217;s logic is even more lopsided: The Rs 400-crore deficit notwithstanding, it is adamamt on lavishing Rs 4 crore on construction of cabins for the chairpersons of the MiC8217;s 12 committees.

What then does the corporation propose to do about uppingrevenue collection? Mhatre says some measures are in the pipeline but these will be announced only when the budget is presented in March next year. He also feels a major reshuffle needs to be effected in some departments to improve efficiency. But as a short-term measure, the department had decided not to dole out any more cellular phones and keep a tight rein on official vehicles used by officials for field work.

With a financial crisis imminent, the administration will have to stop tinkering with pocket money and perks. It will simply have to do some serious thinking.