MCD doubles outlay for sanitation to ₹4,500cr; ₹1,000 cr allotted to roads

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday passed the civic body's budget for 2024-25 amid din as the mayor struggled to maintain order throughout the day's session with councillors from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) climbing atop benches, the dais, and tables in their bid to snatch the budget speech from the leader of the house Mukesh Goyal, marking complete pandemonium in the House.

- Paras Singh

The heated exchanges between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and their BJP counterparts continued on Thursday over various removed motions or amendments moved by the two sides.

BJP councillors were waiting in the well of the House even before mayor Shelly Oberoi arrived. Over the last three days, the BJP has been protesting against the proposals for increasing the financial powers and discretionary funds assigned to the mayor. With little discussion taking place on Thursday, the AAP passed the budget through voice vote.

The budget proposals were presented by MCD commissioner Gyanesh Bharti in December last year.

According to budget documents, the civic body has projected an income of ₹15,686.99 crore in the 2024-25 fiscal, and has proposed allocations and expenditure of ₹16,683.01 crore. The maximum allocation has been assigned to sanitation, one of the most critical functions of the civic body, with the total outlay under the head going up from ₹2,908 crore to ₹4,500 crore.

No new taxes or levies have been introduced by the civic body, senior civic officials said. They added that special emphasis has been laid on road infrastructure development with an additional allocation of ₹1,000 crore; and ₹400 crore have been assigned for garbage management. The outlay will help the ruling AAP to fulfil its two main promises -- flattening the three landfills in the Capital and cleaning all streets and colonies.