However, it has toned down the estimates to some extent and yet came up with addition of Rs 330 crore in civic budget taking it to Rs 4,511 crore from Rs 4,181 crore. Of the Rs 330 crore addition, Rs 153.09 crore goes to revenue expenditure and Rs 176.91 crore to capital expenditure.

The committee has suggested total exemption to gaushalas (panjra pols) from property tax while it has also offered unspecified tax concessions to old-age home properties.

The committees’ additional income sources of Rs 330 crore seem quite ambitious to realise. For example, political leaders were less than convincing in replying about how would income from commercial development or how would sale of FSI would secure Rs 25 crore even as some proposals are pending with the state government for years. The committee claims that the income from octroi would be Rs 1,300 crore but going by past experience, this would become a pipe dream.

The budget document claims that it is in line with the plan of making Ahmadabad the financial capital of Gujarat, a city equipped with world class facilities, as envisioned by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and in-charge minister Anandiben Patel. “It is a declaration of BJP manifesto,” it says among other things.