A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of Finance and Contract Committee on Tuesday. While some members claimed that no decision over the draft budget estimates was taken in the meeting, Mayor Pardeep Chhabra maintained that the budget has been approved and referred to MC House.

Many councillors, who are members of the Finance and Contract Committee, claimed that officials had prepared the draft budget estimates without consulting them and the Mayor.

Congress Councillor Chandermukhi Sharma raised the issue of lack of planning and coordination in the preparation of the estimates. Sharma said officials had failed to take feedback from the councillors before preparing the estimates.

Congress Councillor, Davinder Singh Babla said officials were unable to answer queries regarding implementation of schemes. “They have agreed to conduct the complete exercise in the future,” he added. Babla added, “It is surprising that even Mayor was not consulted by officials while preparing the budget estimates.”