KMC presents a Rs 165.45 crore deficit budget

Kolkata: The mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on June 20 presented a Rs 165.45 crore deficit budget for the year 2014-15. No new tax was proposed in the budget, mayor Sovan Chatterjee said. The civic body has targetted an income Rs 2685.66 crore in the current fiscal year and an expenditure of Rs 2851.11 crore.

The solid waste management department has got the highest budgetary allocation of Rs 450 crore followed by the water supply department which will get Rs 322.31 crore. Last year the water supply department had got Rs 243.41 crore. "We have a target of filtering 100 million gallons of water per day," Chatterjee said. The main income for the civic body will come from collection of property tax which is targetted to be Rs 750 crore.

Last year, KMC earned Rs 750 crore from property tax. The budget proposes to reduce expenditure by cutting cost for motor vehicles department by Rs 41 crore. Chatterjee said that the city would be freed from any garbage vat by December with the launch of modern waste compactor stations where machines would be used to dispose off the waste in the city.