Published On : Mon, Jun 29th, 2015

NMC: Opposition walks out during debate on budget 2015-16

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Ruling party leader Dayashankar Tiwari reads out budgetary allocations; budget passed

Nagpur: Alleging that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) budget 2015-16 presented by NMC standing committee chairman Ramesh Shingare is beyond facts and figures, and it is hypothetical, the Opposition during the debate on it on June 28, Monday, staged a walk-out in protest.

On the other hand, the ruling party, finding that the budget was as per expectations of citizens and in their interest, considered all important suggestions for inclusion during debate and passed it with majority. Considering the demand of BJP corporator Avinash Thakre the suggestion regarding the observance of 125th death anniversary of Mahatma Jyotiba Fule will be included in the list of already chalked out programmes.

NMC
Speaking on this occasion, the NMC’s ruling party leader Dayashankar Tiwari said that the currently earmarked Rs 1965.12 (1946.16 + 18.96) crore budget was tabled in the NMC house by standing committee chairman Ramesh Shingare on June 22, 2015. The budget included the grants expected from the Centre and the state government, he said, adding that as per Chief Minister’s assurance about Rs 60 crores would be received by NMC in the month of August 2015 according to natural growth based on past 5 years’ highest revenue. He also said that the octroi might be merged in the GST if it was introduced.

According to Tiwari, during the last financial year, the state government had sanctioned Rs 100 crores for cement road construction, and whenever the DPR of cement road would be ready the said amount would reach the NMC exchequer. Also, the NIT would provide Rs 100 crores for cement roads to NMC, and the state government too would provide Rs 100 crores to NMC for cement roads.

In addition to this, he informed the house that Rs 58 crores would be received as petrol cess, Rs 14 crores to be received as grant for malaria and phaleria diseases, Rs 6 crores to be received as town development project of state government, though the NMC has demanded Rs 30 crores from Chief Minister as enhanced grant under this head. In addition, the old outstanding amount of Rs 265 crores from previous jnnurm scheme would be received during this fiscal year only, he added.

Dayashankar Tiwari critically said that the budget tabled by Ramesh Shingare would not be able meet its objective in this fiscal year, for no budget since year 2009 has fulfilled its objective. He termed this budget as hypothetical and said that the proposed scheme would be never completed. Citing the reasons, he said that the current 3 months being the rainy season, no proposed construction was carried out. He also blamed the ruling party office-bearers for lacking guts to take action against corrupt contractors.

Outlining the weaknesses on the part of ruling party, Tiwari dauntlessly said that NMC never implements proposals of ruling party, and the ruling party believes in assigning the work to private contractors while the NMC is getting ruined due to privatization.
Addressing the house, Opposition Leader Vikas Thakre condemned the budget and staged a walk-out with his supporters in protest.

Budgetary reactions:
Opening the debate on budget, former standing committee chairman Avinash Thakre termed the budget as realistic. He said that Rs 10 crores would be received as grant from the Centre and state government, and praised the city made free of cataract problem. He urged the tax officials and workers to work hard and sincerely for effective revenue generation.

Prashant Dhavad (Cong) attacked the budget saying that it was a dream-budget, for the NMC had failed to pay the timely pension to its pensioners, cause delay in salary payment for months together to its regular staff, non-payment to contractors for the work done, and irregularities in tax collection. He pointed out that expecting Rs 150 crores from those who committed embezzlement of Rs 26 crores was a cruel joke. He questioned how the NMC could receive sufficient revenue by poor collection of meager rent amount on cores worth of property.

Corporator Gudadhe Patil said the budget is like a crab, for expenditure more than the income has been shown in it. He demanded dissolution of NMC. He criticized the privatization policy. He drew attention of the house towards budget failures during past 8 years. He demanded a place near Hotel Radison for staging a statute of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. He also appealed for contribution of Rs 10 lakh from each contractor for the said purpose.

Ruling party corporator Deepak Kapse, Abhishek Shambharkar, Arunb Daware, Divya Ghurde, Kamil Ansari, Kumudni Kaikade, Vijay Barse, Nilima Bawne, Ajay Dange, Yogesh Choudhari, Sanjay Mahakalkar, Manisha Ghodeswar, Chetna Tank, Yashaswi Nandanwar, Prakash Totwani, Suresh Jagyasi, Saraswati Salame, Jagdish Gwalvanshi, Raju Nagalwar and others participated in the debate.

– Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha ( rajeev.nagpurtoday@gmail.com )