VIJAYAWADA: If the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) were to fully implement each corporator's wish list for taking up several developmental works in his or her division, it would, by an estimate, require about Rs. 100 crores just for the remaining five months of the financial year.

But does VMC's finances permit such an expenditure? Apparently not, going by the statement given to corporators at the recent general body meeting. As against an estimated receipt (both revenue and capital) of Rs. 305 crores in 2005-06, all that the corporation could manage to get was just Rs. 42.35 crores in the first half of the financial year (till September 30). Out of this, Rs. 41.54 crores had already been spent.

The statement

The statement maintained that expenditure would be made for the next six months based on the receipts, and including Rs. 100 crores that was estimated to come from various loans and grants-in-aid.

Does the statement indicate that the VMC's finances are not quite sound? "That's what it means. I had to present facts to corporators and I did exactly that," Municipal Commissioner Natarajan Gulzar said, when contacted by The Hindu on Saturday.

He explained that Rs. 305 crores may look substantial, but the corporation would have room for making useful capital expenditure for not more than Rs. 30-35 crores. The remaining amount goes for meeting establishment costs such as salaries and other forms of revenue expenditure.

Asked whether he was hopeful of fitting in Rs. 20 lakhs expenditure for each division in the remaining five months of financial year, for which a resolution was passed by the general body meeting, in the above amount, Mr. Gulzar cryptically remarked, "I hope so."

Congress corporator Samanthapudi Narasaraju said that Rs. 305 crores was estimated on the basis of an expectation that Rs. 100 crores would accrue to the corporation from the State Government's loan from the World Bank for urban bodies. "But it is quite unlikely this amount would materialise this financial year," he felt.

The estimated receipt also included about Rs. 40 crores of dues from the State Government from out of the Tenth and Eleventh Finance Commission's recommended devolution to urban bodies. "This too, for all practical purposes, is gone for good as they date back to several years," Mr. Narasaraju said.

CPI(M) charge

Communist Party of India - Marxist floor leader Ch.Babu Rao argued that the corporation officials did not present a true picture of the financial position. "They tried to give figures in such a way that corporators would not ask for any work," he said.

According to Mr. Babu Rao, Rs.10 Crores was shown as arrears from the State Government for the expenditure incurred during Krishna Pushkarams. But the State Government had already treated this as loan and deducted it from the amount payable by the corporation to it under various heads.

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