Even as he proposed outlays totaling Rs 16,792 crore—up from Rs 12,866.22 crore last year—Municipal Commissioner Dr Jairaj Phatak, presenting his second budget as Mumbai’s civic chief, said: “I am happy to present a budget with a surplus, but without any new taxes or hiking existing ones.”

So, while the concept of a ‘Palika Bazaar’ mentioned in this year’s budget estimates may appear to be a completely new idea, the term ‘municipal malls’ will not fail to ring a bell. Last year’s BMC budget had introduced a plan to build municipal malls for convenience shopping, on the lines of Sahakari Bhandar and Apna Bazaar. A year down the line, not a single brick may have been laid, but the civic administration has offered the idea anew, this time as Palika Bazaars.

The staggering Rs 500 crore increase from last year in the proposed outlays for the health sector is also replete with allocations lying unutilised and plans unfulfilled for a period ranging from two to eight years—for instance, the reconstruction of Cooper Hospital, or the purchase of MRI scanning machines for Nair and Sion hospitals.

Another exercise in branding, the ‘open spaces management scheme’ finds a repeat mention in this year’s budget with an allotment of Rs 9 crore. Of the Rs 34 crore allotted for this scheme last year, not a rupee was used. Tenders are yet to be finalised.

Other plans for open spaces detailed in last year’s budget, including a children’s park in each division, a nursery in the eastern suburbs and the beautification of Haji Ali are yet to take off and find mention again. The same is the case with the upgradation of the Shivaji Park swimming pool and the reconstruction of the Birla Kreeda Kendra at Girgaum Chowpatty.

Accepting the fact that much of the allocations in last year’s could not be utilised, Additional Municipal Commissioner Manu Kumar Srivastava said: “There are many big projects among these that needed clearances and this took more time.’’ He added that though provisions were made last year, the expenditure would be booked in the coming year. “The process has started already,” he said.

In its 2008-09 budget, the BMC has also made provisions for creating scaled-down versions of its centralised Emergency Operations Center in each of its 24 wards. Problem is, the existing EOC in the BMC headquarters is only a skeleton—the promised ultramodern wireless communication system has not progressed beyond the tendering stage despite the EOC being inaugurated seven months ago.

Among the biggest fresh initiatives: A ‘Mahapalika Seva Card’ that will contain the data of every citizen and can be carried while accessing any civic service, and the setting up of ‘Mega Citizens Facilitation Centres’ or ‘CFCs’ to avail civic, state and central government services, all under one roof.

The Seva Card will contain all relevant data and transaction details of the citizen, held in a 64 kb chip. While those belonging to the backward classes can obtain the card free of cost, others will be charged nominally.

Among the other new initiatives a “variable messaging system” to for traffic messages and for disaster situations, toilets along the Eastern and Western Express Highways and the much-awaited digitisation of the BMC’s Building Proposals and Estates departments. Another significant feature is a first-ever special provision for backward class citizens.