CHENNAI:Bridges received focus in the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Rs 29.15-crore deficit budget for this year, that otherwise largely adheres to status-quo, avoiding major announcements.The budget was made available to the public on the city corporation’s website on Tuesday.
Bridges have been allocated Rs 200 crore this year, over two times that of the allocation last year — Rs 75 crore. Amidst allegations of Amma canteens draining funds that have grown louder since the Comptroller and Auditor-General report in 2016, the budget puts the estimated cost of overall maintenance of these canteens at Rs 14.6 crore, double that of the allocation of Rs 7.1 crore last year.
Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan had told Express that the budget’s focus would be on infrastructure while also looking to lower the deficit. Accordingly, a deficit budget of Rs 29 crore has been passed, as opposed to the deficit budget of Rs 102.56 crore last year.
The corporation is looking to increase its property tax revenue to Rs 1,200 crore this year as opposed to Rs 800 crore last year.
While the allocation for Storm Water Drains (SWD) has been slashed by Rs 317 crore, bringing it down to Rs 613 crore, it continues to retain a lion’s share of the Corporation’s infrastructure allocations.
Drains had been receiving increased spending since the Chennai floods of 2015 until this year. Even as the civic body is intensifying its source segregation campaign to manage solid waste since October last year, the allocation for Solid Waste Management has come down from Rs 20.75 crore last year toRs 16 crore this year.Parks and playfields have been allocated Rs 90 crore as opposed to Rs 127. 04 crore last year. Allocation for health has increased to Rs 6.15 crore.