BMC presents record Rs 59,955 crore budget with 'green component'

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the governing civic body of Mumbai, on Friday presented a budget of an unprecedented Rs 59,954.8 crore for the financial year 2024-25, up 10.50 per cent compared with the previous year’s budget. That marked the second consecutive year when the BMC budget estimate topped the Rs 50,000 crore mark. BMC is the country’s richest civic corporation.

The budget for 2024-25 pegged capital expenditure of Rs 31,774.6 crore. 

"Before commenting on budget Estimates 2024-25, I would like to mention here that, in my last two years’ budget speech, I had specifically commented on environmental responsibility and the efforts made by BMC to achieve the goal of ‘net zero’ in the near term," said municipal commissioner IS Chahal, who was appointed as BMC administrator by the state government after the five-year term of corporators ended in March 2022.

The BMC budget estimates capital expenditure at Rs 31,774.6 crore and revenue expenditure at Rs 28,121.9 crore, according to an official statement. 

While the highest provision of Rs 31,774.6 crore was earmarked for strengthening civic facilities, the budget 2024-25 proposed financial assistance worth Rs 1 lakh for as many as 1,600 self-help groups. The health budget stood at Rs 7,191.1 crore, 12 per cent of the total budget, according to the BMC budget documents. 

The BMC budget 2024 focuses on a seven-step strategy, the Clean Air Mumbai Initiative, to tackle air pollution. Here's a summary of a few noteworthy achievements of this drive, which was introduced in the BMC budget 2023:  

• The issuance of the Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan (MAPMP)
• The establishment of task forces at the ward level
• The enforcement of construction guidelines featuring measures like dust screens and water sprinkling
• Efforts extend to road dust reduction with operational mechanical and e-power sweepers, procurement of dust mitigation units and plans for air purification
• Sustainable transport measures involve the procurement of electric BEST buses
• Waste management initiatives focus on waste-to-energy projects and the installation of hazardous waste processing units
• Measures to combat air pollution:
  • Urban greening projects
  • Effective monitoring through Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations
  • Communication campaigns 

Here's a summary of BMC's major sources of revenue income estimates for the financial year 2024-2025:

• Grant-in-Aid for Octroi compensation: Rs 13,331.63 crore
• Property Tax: Rs 4,950 crore
• DP Department income: Rs 5,800 crore
• Interest on Investments: Rs 2,206.30 crore
• Water & Sewerage Charges: Rs 1,923.19 crore

With inputs from agencies