According to the statistics revealed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body has spent INR 3,382 crores on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to December 2021.
Now, the BMC wants the state government to reimburse the expenses and has put forth a proposal to the effect. BMC officials said they were hopeful that the state government would pay back the amount.
As per officials, in these two years, since the pandemic hit the city, more than 16,600 people died of coronavirus while more than 10 lakh tested positive.
The civic body also stated that a large part of the BMC’s COVID expenses are for upkeep and maintenance of the jumbo centres and rent for these centres.
BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal, in his budget speech, had said the corporation had sought reimbursement from the State Disaster Response Fund. The BMC estimated a bill of INR 2,764 crores for fighting the virus and sought a reimbursement from the state for all expenses incurred.
Bifurcating further, the BMC officials explained, from March 2020 till September 2021, INR 2,764 crores were spent. Meanwhile, during third wave, around INR 500 crores were spent. From this, around INR 1,417 crores was spent in Mumbai City District and INR 1,347 crores was spent on Mumbai Suburban District.
Oppositions have alleged corruption and irregularities in the several COVID-related purchases by the BMC. Moreover, the BJP has demanded a white paper on the BMC’s spending in these two year, however, civic body has failed to submit details so far.
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