The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will include in its budget for 2009-10, to be released on Tuesday, a separate booklet devoted to the development of women and child.

With an aim to bring women into the mainstream, the civic administration has charted out projects and policies to upgrade and fulfil the needs of Mumbai’s women. “As per the directives of the State Government, we have prepared a gender budget and it will be presented along with the main budget on February 3,” Additional Municipal Commissioner Anil Diggikar said.

This year’s budget is expected to be around Rs 17,000 crore and around two per cent of it — about Rs 340 crore — will be devoted for programmes for women under various departments and budget heads. Women corporators said they planned to increase this figure once the budget is tabled for discussion in the standing committee.

The BMC has, since last year, initiated many schemes for women, like setting up Aadhar Kendras, service centres for women self-help groups (SHGs) to help market their services and products, a gender resource centre at Lower Parel to work towards gender sensitisation, employment mapping for services and creches for working women. The Aadhar Kendra model has now been adopted by the Maharashtra Government, which will be setting up such centres across the state. Funds will be allotted to all these projects in the budget.

The gender budget will also include the construction of toilet blocks for women, anganwadis for women and child development, a mother and child hospital in Borivli and water arrangements during summer.

Mayor Shubha Raul said the gender budget was the need of the hour. “We cannot neglect women, especially those from the economically weaker sections. There are many who have no social security and the BMC should do something for them.”

Raul said there will be special subsidies to women self-help groups and they will be encouraged to take over the Dattak Vasti Yojana. “Those SHGs running the scheme will be given added incentives. We want local women to come forward and take care of the cleanliness and maintenance of our neighborhood,” she said.