Das presented his third consecutive budget of Rs 1,176.34 crore with additional sanitation tax to the tune of Rs 6 crore. Central funding remained the major source of revenue as part of JNNURM projects of Rs 318 crore. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) showed Rs 823.34 crore as corpus for the year 2009-10 as against the expenditure of Rs 1,036 crore. Even though the civic body has asked for loans worth Rs 141 crore, officials maintained that such a situation will not arise, as expenses will not exceed limits.

After presenting the budget, Das told the media that in the present fiscal year, development works of Rs 436 crore will take place. “Apart from the Rs 1,100 crore development works planned in the last two years, VMC will undertake the works worth another Rs 650 crore.”

He added: “We are planning to introduce 24x7 water supply in the areas close to the Ajwa Water Tank or some other area decided by the general board. We will send a sample of this project for the JNNURM grants.”

Most of the projects mentioned in the budget are already going on and no additional projects are planned. “Even in Ahmedabad

and Surat, the civic body is not charging anything for sanitation. In fact, they have levied taxes on people who are actually cleaning their societies on their own without expecting anything from the corporation," said Chirag Zaveri, the opposition leader.

Zaveri also pointed out that the state government has given only Rs 176.41 lakh in lieu of Octroi.

“It is expected that about Rs 20 crore will be disbursed in the remaining three months. Nevertheless, VMC will incur losses worth Rs 70 crore. Further, the state government has asked for Rs 361 lakh from the VMC that wasn’t mentioned by the officials while presenting the budget,” he said.

Zaveri also said that the people would like to know why the development works initiated under the JNNURM scheme are moving at a snail’s pace.

“Of the 12 stormwater drainage line works, eight are still not complete and one is not even one per cent complete. This shows how efficient the administration is,” he added.

VMC gets more funds to complete pending projects

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has received more grants from the Centre as part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to complete the infrastructure development including the rail overbridge and waste dumping site. VMC sources said a meeting was held between the top JNNURM officials and VMC officials in Delhi. The VMC has received funds worth Rs 11.30 crore for the infrastructure development works.

“Of the total, Rs 2.44 crore will be spent on the RoB at Nava Yard D Cabin, Rs 3.44 crore would be spent on Jetalpur RoB and remaining Rs 5.42 crore will be used for a waste dumping site,” said a senior official. The RoB at Jetalpur would connect Jetalpur to Bhimnath Bridge whereas, the Vadsar RoB would connect Vadsar to Makarpura GIDC.