As the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) presented its budget on Wednesday, it seemed that the budget, which has been tagged as a realistic budget, is more real while taxing Thanekars, but very hypothetical while giving back to them.
As the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) presented its budget on Wednesday, it seemed that the budget, which has been tagged as a realistic budget, is more real while taxing Thanekars, but very hypothetical while giving back to them.
The civic body's budget for the year 2015-16 does not have much to offer to the residents of the lake city. They will be subjected to a five percent increase in water benefit tax, which has been proposed to rise from 7% to 12% for residential tenements and from 12% to 17% for commercial establishments. Even the sewerage tax has been proposed to increased by 5% (from 4% to 9%) for residences and (from 7.5% to 12.5%) for commercial spaces.
Even the water supply charges have been introduced based on the area of tenement for residences. The monthly charges for a house of minimum 250 square feet to 2500 sq feet is in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 470. There are no such charges for commercial establishments.
Moreover, there is a new Solid waste management charge for commercials establishments from small hotels, to hospitals and malls in the range of Rs500 to Rs45000.
What the residents are likely to get are a 3600 square feet Old Thane theme park at Majiwada-Ghodbunder road, a traffic park at Kasarvadavli-Kavesar to create awareness about traffic rules, a bollywood park among others. To solve the parking problem in the city, road parking and off-street parking hve been proposed. All the above projects will be either on BoT(built operate transfer) or PPP (Public private participation) basis.
Check water theft then increase water tax, say residents
Reacting to this activist Satyajit Shah from Thane finds these revised water taxes ridiculous. "Rather than taxing people more on water usage, the TMC should stop wastage of water, illegal water connections and water theft and there should be full implementation of water harvesting system in the city," says Shah.
Agrees Chandrahas Tawade, another city-based activist. "Before revising the water taxes, the TMC should have checked the water audit. According to a 2008 water audit report, out of the 406 MLD of water supplied to the city daily, only 285 MLD is charged," says he. "Water leakages and thefts should be checked and there should be periodical water audit before implementing these taxes," he adds.
Even residents of Hiranandani estate like C N Shetty finds this water tax revision unjustified. "Most buildings in our area are surviving on water tankers as everyday we order two tankers daily. There is no shortage of water in Thane but we do not get it. Our monthly water tanker bills runs into lacs," says Shetty. "First TMC should make arrangements for water supply and then increase the charges rather than doing it arbitrarily," he says.
Make parking lots compulsory in commercial establishments
Shah feels that like Bangalore, all the new the commercial establishments in Thane should be made to have compulsory parking lots. "And if they are going to charge the citizens for parking, then even the cops, MPs, corporators vehicles should also be charged," he says.
Playgrounds not theme parks needed
Shah says that the city's children needs more playgrounds than theme park. "Instead of having an Old Thane theme park why not preserve Old Thane and give our children more playgrounds," he asks.
Smart city?
Last but not the least, the TMC's recent `Smart city' award given by Delhi's Smart city council has really amazed the residents and activists. "I do not know how Thane city can be awarded a smart city? There are no roads, no walkaways for pedestrains, no way for cyclists, no playgrounds, no parking. Still is a smart city," asks Shah. "I think the person who applied for this award and got it must be really smart," says he tongue in cheek.
Even Tawade wants to know how come Thane has managed to get the award. "They should reveal it to the public the criteria for the award and how they fulfilled it," says he. "Even the troubled SATIS got a national award in 2010 for improvements within public transport. So even smart city can be possible," he says. SATIS stands for station area traffic improvement scheme.
Other highlights of the budget
TMC budget for 2015-16 -Rs 1998 crores
2014-15 budget was Rs2796 crores which was revised to Rs 1649.75 crores
Advertisement tax to be 10% than that levied by the Brihanmumbai Municipal corporation
Rs 57.50 crores for road repairs, concretisation, missing links, roads in development plants
Rs 18 crores for completion of subways and foot over bridges (FOB)
Rs 14 core to be raised from the state government or MMRDA for Kalwa creek bridge
Rs 3.31 crore for constructing FOB to connect Kalwa east and west station, to be constructed by railways.
Rs 40 lacs for studying construction of SATIS at Thane east station
Rs 8 crores for small 4-5 sewerage treatment plants (STPs)
Rs 25 lacs for converting plastic into fuel
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