The proposals are likely to face heckles from a majority of councillors, as Congress members have already done their homework on the draft budget. This time, the VMC Standing Committee has not made any policy change in the proposed budget, leaving it entirely up to the general board to decide.

Congress councillor Chandrakant Srivastava Bhatthu, a veteran of 24 years at the corporation, said, “Though I will go through the draft budget tonight, I have learnt that there are several issues which have no meaning. It’s injudicious to hike water and drainage taxes when the civic body has neither created extra resources nor improved the quality while entire funds for new projects, including octroi, are coming from the state government and the JNNURM scheme.”

He said that the VMC’s claim of spending 20 per cent funds of the total budget on the poor, lacks credit and is missing in the draft budget.

Opposition leader Chirag Zaveri said, “Hike in water and drainage taxes will be the contentious issues. We will oppose it tooth and nail, and will suggest some concrete development issues, including night bazaars, resolving traffic menace, and creation of hawkers’ zones, which is pending for the past 15 years now.” Another Congress councillor Imtiaz Patel said there was no rationality behind paying hiked taxes “when no facilities are provided.”

Contrary to this, BJP councillor Ashok Pandya said, “there are no issues, which should lead to an opposition.”