Nagpur: The hassled Nagpurians could heave a sigh of relief as a special meeting of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), on Wednesday, approved Reappropriation Proposal of Standing Committee to earmark additional funds for undertaking revamp of city roads dotted with potholes.
The House gave approval to diversion of Rs 36.50 crore from other Heads in the civic budget, for road repairs and for streamlining solid waste management. However, the civic administration cut down Standing Committee’s proposal by almost Rs 5 crore. Going one step further, the administration also divided Reappropriation Proposal for better garbage management as the same was in doldrums and needed additional funding.
As the general elections to NMC are due early next year, the ruling BJP felt the need to undertake facelift of battered roads rapidly to calm down the tempers of citizens. But the funds were falling short in the cash-starved civic body. Chief Accounts and Finance Officer (CAFO) Vijay Kolhe tabled the proposal and outlined the juggling of funds under various heads. The funds, which are unspent in the annual budget of NMC, will be utilised for re-laying of roads that are in very bad shape and maintenance of Integrated Road Development Programme (IRDP) roads under Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Road Development Programme. The proposal was cleared with voice vote and the Special General Body Meeting was over within 15 minutes.
Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B also explained in brief how the funds would be utilised and specially mentioned that under Head 802 of NMC, utilisation of funds was going to be around 120 per cent. Normally, every year, the civic body is able to utilise only 70 per cent of funds. But effective financial management has ensured that already 82 per cent of proposals are accepted by administration.
Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari, in his statement, described the approval to re-appropriation proposal of Standing Committee as historic development. Now, Rs 242.93 crore is allocated for development works and solid waste management as against Rs 206.43 crore provided earlier in the civic budget. Of this, a new provision of Rs 36.50 crore is made in the civic budget of which Rs 13 crore would be utilised for renewing 15 stretches of roads in utterly bad shape, through Hotmix Plant. Another Rs 43.50 crore is mentioned for asphalting other roads in the city, Rs 73.15 crore for Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Road Development Programme, and Rs 113.28 crore for solid waste management.
Earlier, in a special meeting of NMC’s general body held on September 27, the Municipal Commissioner had said that additional provision was necessary because the earlier earmarked amount was falling short as the potholes in city had risen by nearly 41 per cent. The reason for the same was non-maintenance of roads, done otherwise regularly by NMC, owing to outbreak of pandemic wherein healthcare took the priority.
Now, out of Rs 36.50 crore fund, Rs 8 crore would be needed for asphalting of roads through Hotmix Plant, Rs 8 crore for asphalting, repair and concreting of other roads in the city, Rs 10 crore for maintenance of roads developed by NMC under IRDP for last one-and-a-half years and Rs 10 crore for solid waste management.
