Vadodara municipality passes budget for 2006-07

It estimates an income of Rs 346 cr for the year

Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), late on Saturday evening, passed its budget for 2006-07 with a majority vote after a three-day long general board session.

The VMC budget for 2006-07 estimates Rs 345.69 crore income and revenue expenditure of Rs 269.93 crore. Octroi collection remains the highest source of income for the VMC as it will contribute 58 per cent of the estimated income which is Rs 2 billion for the year 2006-07.

The tax hike in the present budget turned out to be the major bone of contention between the BJP and Congress. The hike which has been implemented after 10 years is Rs 18.9 crore for 2006-07 and major tax hike has been levied on water, property and gas.

A raise was proposed on the annual water charges from Rs 360 to Rs 1,000. With this new rate, the cost of one liter of water supplied by the VMC will cost 1.5 paisa. The hike in water charges has been reduced from proposed Rs 1,000 to Rs 540, which will be applicable at a flat rate to the residential and commercial properties. This will yield approximately Rs 1.80 crore.

Further, the charges of VMC supplied piped cooking gas have been increased by Rs 1.10 and Rs 1.75 per unit for domestic users and commercial users, respectively. Vadodarians will heave a sigh of relief as two new taxes - streetlight tax and a solid waste collection & disposal charges was removed from the present budget, after a hue and cry from the Congress.

Commenting on the contradictory budget income and expenditure figures Srivastav said, "To receive loans from World Bank or any other financial institution there is a need to have world class budget report."

He said that with such erroneous budget, it would be futile for the VMC to get loans from the world financial body as the main perquisite to get the loans for any municipal corporation is to follow standards and world class budget report system.

While, Rajendra Trivedi of BJP, advocated that the VMC should implement 'Zero budget system' as it gives detail of the budget with clear targets and exact amount set to for a particular projects.

It seems that citizens will have to cough more money to pay property tax as it has been raised from present Rs 20 per sq m to Rs 22 per sq m for non-residential property and Rs 10 per sq m to Rs 11 per sq m for residential.

As per the real estate and property dealers, there will be a substantial impact on realty business as it will shoot up the rental rates. The increased property tax will yield Rs 80 lakh to VMC's coffer.

The major VMC expenditure heads include water supply at Rs 8.40 crore, roads & bridges at Rs 8.40 crore, services for urban poor at Rs 2.50 crore, solid waste management at Rs 1.20 crore, Riverfront development for Rs 1 crore and Interlinking lakes for Rs 1 crore.