With the coronavirus-induced lockdown affecting the economy of the entire country, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been facing difficulties as well.
As per reports, the income of the BMC has decreased drastically as a result of the pandemic. With a 41 per cent decline in the first six months alone, the civic body is planning to cut deposits of ₹5,000 crores to meet its expenses.
Ex-Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi had earlier presented the budget of the Municipal Corporation for the financial year 2020-21 which was ₹33,441 crores in the month of February. However, within a month, the infection began to spread in the city of Mumbai and a country-wide lockdown was imposed. Even the collection of taxes and fees for the last financial year could not be completed as the entire transaction was halted before the new budget came into force in April.
As a result, in the new financial year, all planning has gone awry due to low income and high expenditure. The corporation was expected to earn ₹28,448.30 crores in the current financial year. The income comes from various sources such as compensation for taxes, property tax, development planning fees and premiums, interest on investments, grants from the state government. Out of this, the revenue of ₹8,320 crores was expected in the first six months. However, only ₹4,905 crores have been earned so far. As of now, ₹3,809 crores has been spent on the management of the pandemic and other things.