The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) Standing Committee revised the civic body’s draught annual budget to Rs 8,807 crore on Tuesday, an increase of Rs 696 crore.
Municipal Commissioner Lochan Sehra proposed an increase of Rs 636 crore from last year’s budget in his draught budget of Rs 8111 crore for the fiscal year 2022-23, which was tabled on February 2.
In keeping with the municipal commissioner’s “no hike in taxes ” proposal ahead of the assembly election later this year, Standing Committee chairman Hitesh Barot announced that there will be no change in property tax, conservancy tax, water tax, and vehicle tax.
“The newly merged areas of Bopal-Ghuma, Chiloda Naroda, Kathwada, Sanathal, Vishalpur, Aslali, Ranasan, Khodiyar and Nana Chiloda will be provided rebate in property tax,” said Barot while presenting the budget Tuesday. An amount of Rs 10 crore has been proposed for development of gamtal of these newly merged areas.
The major new bridges and flyovers included in the Standing Committee’s revised budget include Makarba to Corporate Road, which is estimated to cost Rs 30 crore, and an underbridge between Ramdevnagar and Isckon Crossroads, which is estimated to cost Rs 2 crore.
A storm water network connecting Gota-Godhavi canal has been proposed, with an estimated cost of Rs 6 crore for overhead water tanks and Rs 3 crore for underground water tanks in various areas.
Furthermore, the standing committee has proposed using plastic in roads through advanced technology for low-lying areas that are inundated with rain water during the monsoon, for which Rs 10 crore has been proposed.
The councillor annual budget, which is revised every year, has been further increased from Rs 17 to Rs 30 lakh, adding a total of Rs 24.96 crore for the 2022-23 annual budget.
In response to the revised budget, AMC Leader of Opposition Shehzad Khan Pathan described it as “a budget that will hardly benefit residents.”
“In last five years several proposed projects are still pending be it development of Kharicut canal or Chandola lake development. For development of Kharicut Canal allocation of crores is merely on papers. During Vijay Rupani government in 2017-18, the state government had allocated Rs 525 crore for its development for which detailed project report to was approved. It is still pending,” Pathan stated.