Deprived of any big ideas or schemes for the twin-city, the BJP-led Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) passed Rs. 2112.86 crore budget tagged with a pathetically meagre surplus of Rs. 21 lakh.
Despite, staring at empty coffers, the standing committee inflated the civic chief’s draft budget by a whopping Rs. 500 crore which was further bloated by another Rs. 100 crore by the general body. The ruling governance invited sharp criticism from the opposition members who alleged massive inflation.
“Apart from unjustified hikes, the figures and contents approved by the standing committee have been tampered with before reaching the general body. This is illegal and unconstitutional,” alleged Congress corporator Jubeir Inaamdar who has demanded a high-level probe into the matter.
The BJP termed the charges as vague and baseless. Expressing confidence in tapping new avenues for revenue generation including fresh property tax assessments, revised development fees in the new development plan, recovery of vacant land tax dues and pending dues from the government, the BJP managed to pass the budget on the virtue of their majority in the special general body house which was digitally held via video conferencing due to the ongoing pandemic situation.
The municipal commissioner Dilip Dhole had presented Rs.1,509.17 crore realistic draft budget tagged with a surplus of Rs. 25.85 lakh to standing committee chairman Dinesh Jain for the fiscal year 2021-22.
The e-meeting followed after standing committee chairman Dinesh Jain presented the budget to Mayor Jyotsna Hasnale at the conference hall in the main administrative building of the MBMC in the presence of commissioner Dilip Dhole and deputy mayor Hasmukh Gehlot on Tuesday.
