Rs 587.13 cr budget passed for MC House

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 20

The Municipal Corporation (MC) House passed its budget of Rs 587.13 crore during the session held today, up by Rs 50 crore passed for the outgoing financial year.

Of the total amount allocated, Rs 358.25 crore has been allocated for development works, Rs 203 crore for establishment and Rs 24.38 crore as contingency funds. The House is expecting Rs 133 crore as grants from the PIDB, Swachh Bharat and AMRUT scheme. It is also expecting Rs 21 crore from the Finance Commission.

In the new budget, the MC has proposed to spend Rs 93.5 crore on B&R works, including road relaying, and Rs 129.75 crore on other B&R projects, including a bypass from Patel Chowk to Amritsar side, foot overbridges, Transport Nagar development etc. Of this amount, only a small amount of Rs 25 lakh has been allocated for the development of green belts. Also, Rs 8 crore has been earmarked for the Solid Waste Management project.

An amount of Rs 135 crore has been put up for water supply and sewage works, including Rs 50 crore, for the setting up of a new system for using surface water from the Beas for supply in the MC area. Of the Rs 537.16 crore budget passed in the last House in the mid of year 2017-18 (owing to ruckus and deferring of last budget session), the MC was only approved for Rs 333.26 crore. It, however, could earn a little more to the tune of Rs 365.02 crore.

‘Check spread of garbage’

AAP leaders, led by district president HS Walia, on Tuesday held a protest ahead of the MC meeting, demanding that the garbage dump should not be allowed to spread more in Wariana. He said the residents of colonies around the area, including Jalandhar Kunj, Jalandhar Vihar etc, were facing a lot of problem due to the menace.