Disaster preparedness, malls are on BMC’s radar
MUMBAI: Cleanliness and beautification drives, the upgrade of civic infrastructure, disaster preparedness, environment-friendly initiatives, and social welfare programmes will power Mumbai’s transformation’s mission in 2007. Presenting the Rs12,866 crore budget for the city on Tuesday, municipal commissioner Dr Jairaj Phatak said it was a “realistic budget that took the city’s priorities into account.” The Centre has added a few hundred crore rupees to the corpus.
Mumbai residents may find it heartening that although the BMC has provided an additional Rs3,258 crore this year, there will be no tax rise. The civic infrastructure will be granted a sizeable chunk (43 per cent) of the outlay. Another Rs2,353.63 crore will be deployed to buttress social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
The budget’s prime focus is on development initiatives such as the Mumbai Sewer Disposal Project-II, and BRIMSTOWAD that seeks to improve city’s storm water drains. But new and ambitious proposals, including the establishment of municipal malls at 10 locations and the commissioning of earthquake- and tsunami-risk assessment studies involving international experts, constitute some of the highlights of the budget.
The BMC wants to replicate the success of private malls and has set aside Rs15 crore for its foray into the area. “The idea is to provide facilities such as like vegetable markets, fruit markets, provision stores, and departmental stores under one umbrella,” said Manu Kumar Srivastava, the additional municipal commissioner. Municipal hawkers will be accommodated in the malls.
While a major anchor like an Apna Bazaar store will be included in the plan to increase footfalls. Acknowledging that development endeavours will not succeed without the empowerment of the urban poor, the BMC has apportioned Rs1,608 crore to elevate the lot of the city's underprivileged. Refurbishing of the infrastructure in age-old gaothans, adivasi padas and koliwadas will be undertaken this year.
Wholesale reforms were also proposed in the neglected education sector, including the provision of Re1 per day allowance to girl students for attending schools from this year. Other proposals include: financial assistance to bright girl students, initiation of 84 model English medium public schools, and the offer of incentives like free uniforms, school books, shoes, water bottles, and flavoured milk for 3.80 lakh students of municipal schools.
In fact, the current education budget of Rs1,098.55 crore is Rs318 crore more than last year's provision. Other sectors that received substantial allocations include water supply and sewerage works (33 per cent), and roads and traffic operations (17 per cent).
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