Milk bank, AI-driven civic monitoring among proposals in MCD's next budget

The MCD's budget for next fiscal will see the establishment of its first Lactation Management Unit, or Milk Bank, and use of Artificial Intelligence for monitoring of civic amenities.

The civic body has in its budget estimates for 2024-25 provisioned funds for construction of around 20 school buildings in different zones of the city.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Saturday presented a budget estimate of Rs 16,683.02 crore for the year 2024-25 with estimated income to be Rs 15,686.99 crore.

The civic body saw a spike of Rs 400 crore in the revenue, as it earned Rs 2,417 crore in the financial year 2022-23 -- the highest revenue in the history of the Corporation through property tax, according to the MCD.

The MCD's first milk bank will be set up in Swami Dayanand Hospital, it said.

The corporation has proposed a pilot project for Preet Vihar, East Patel Nagar, and Kotla Mubarakpur wards for the extension of civic services through artificial intelligence.

It proposed to construct approximately 20 school buildings in areas like Punjabi Bagh and Paschim Vihar in the West zone, Ibrahimpur, Wazirabad Village, GTB Nagar in the Civil Lines zone, and Mangolpuri in Rohini zone.

In addition, the body made a provision under its Sahbhagita scheme to provide 5 per cent additional incentive to educational institutions with land area exceeding 10 acres, on condition they deposit 100 per cent of the property tax.

The municipality plans to hire 420 nursery attendants, security guards, and sanitation workers for schools' upkeep.

The budget proposes to establish libraries in the 44 schools and install smart interactive panels in 25 proposed model schools.

The MCD also listed approximately 1 lakh stray dogs' sterilisation in the coming financial year.

According to the civic body, the FASTag parking facility is being introduced in 21 parking spaces.

"Construction of multi-level parking facilities is underway in Punjabi Bagh for 225 cars, GK-I market for 399 cars, Amar Colony, Lajpat Nagar for 81 cars, Shiva Market for 500 cars, Gandhi Maidan for 2,338 cars, Qutub Road for 174 cars, Nigam Bodh for 95 cars, and Bagh Diwar Market, Fatehpuri, for 196 cars. These will be completed in this financial year," it said.

A waste-to-energy plant with a capacity of 3,600 TPD in Narela-Bawana and an expansion of capacity in Okhla and Tehkhand waste-to-energy plants are planned for implementation for the year 2024-25.

An agreement has been made with ASCI-Hyderabad for an audit of these plants in compliance with solid waste management rules, 2016, aimed at identifying deficiencies and providing suggestions for improvement.

The civic body plans to set up various testing labs in 60 primary health centres under the PPP model. A blood storage facility will be started at Mata Gujri Hospital.

The completion of the Delhi Darshan Park Phase-II, Dinosaur Park, and Heritage Park under the Waste-to-Art theme is underway and the Roshanara Nursery in Keshav Puram is being developed as a 'High-Tech Nursery'.

The MCD said it will work on computerisation of almost all cremation grounds and linking them to birth-death offices for easier issuance of cremation receipts and death certificates.

Additionally, it said, development and construction of around 30 more cremation grounds and cemeteries is in process in places like Dakshinpuri, Harkesh Nagar, and Kishangarh.