The Budget estimate of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for the year 2023-24 was presented at the BMC headquarters in Mumbai on February 4, 2023. Photo credit: Twitter/@mybmc

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the richest civic body in the country, on February 4 presented ₹52,619.07 crore Budget for the year 2023-24, with the budgetary estimates crossing the ₹50,000 crore-mark for the first time.

The budgetary estimates this time are 14.52% more than the 2022-23 amount of ₹45,949 crore.

The BMC administration presented the Budget to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, who was appointed as the civic body’s administrator by the State government in March last year after the five-year term of corporators ended.

“The Budget estimates for the financial year 2023-24 are proposed at ₹52,619.07 crore, which exceeds the Budget estimates of 2022-23, that is ₹45,949.21 crore, by 14.52%,” the Budget document said.

This is for the first time after 1985 that the administration of the richest municipal body in the country presented the Budget to an administrator.

Addressing a press conference after the budget presentation, Chahal said, “This is for the first time in the history of BMC that the budget estimates have crossed the Rs 50,000 crore-mark.”

In the Budget, the civic administration has allocated ₹27,247.80 crore towards capital expenditure and ₹25,305.94 crore towards revenue expenditure.

Mr. Chahal also said that it is for the first time that the civic body is going to spend 52% of the Budget estimates on capital expenditure and 48% on revenue expenditure.

As per the Budget document, ₹3,545 crore have been allocated for the ambitious Coastal Road project that is expected to complete this year end, while ₹1,060 crore are earmarked for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, which will reduce travel distance between Western suburbs of Mumbai and Thane city, and ₹2,825 crore for traffic operations and roads projects.

The actual capital expenditure of ₹8,398.35 crore is incurred up to December 2022, which is 40.26% of the revised estimates for FY 22-23, it said.

“Health, education, environment and transparent working are the four pillars of our budget,” Mr. Chahal said.

The polls to the BMC are pending. The elections got delayed due to factors like the coronavirus pandemic, delimitation of wards and OBC quota.