Chandigarh civic body allocates Rs 100 crorefor smart city project

The municipal corporation (MC) on Friday was allocated Rs 375 crore in the budget for the financial year of 2019-2020 from the UT administration, Rs 56 crore more than what it got last time but not enough to pull it out of the financial crunch. “Since Rs 480 crore is required only for salaries of MC employees annually, it will be difficult to run the civic body easily. We will have to generate money for developmental and other key works,” said an MC official. Since hundreds of developmental works are being passed by the general house, finance and contract committee and other committees on a monthly basis, the authority will have to look for options to generate money for developmental works. “Tax from both commercial and residential properties, sewage cess, funds through advertisement permissions are some of the key departments from where the MC generates money. They will have to seriously make efforts to either sell or rent out their properties to earn money,” said an official. The administration has given the budget in total to the civic body, without segregating it into capital and revenue segments, leaving it to the MC on how much it wants to spend on which segment.