Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

GMC Budget meet inconclusive

Staff Reporter

GUNTUR: The Budget meeting of the Standing Committee of Guntur Municipal Corporation, which had been getting postponed for the past two times, met here on Wednesday with only three members, including Chairman Kanna Nagaraju, attending it.

The committee invited the Municipal Commissioner and all section heads to discuss ways to lower the expenditure in sanitation, water supply and other areas. A Rs.147-crore budget was originally prepared, which the Standing Committee did not feel was realistic with several heads of income found to be wrong.

In the 2006-07 Budget an additional Rs.1.5 crores was expected from the natural increase of 10 per cent of assessed houses and another 10 per cent from uncovered assesses. These 10 per cent houses identified during an intensive survey done by students of Acharya Nagarjuna University in the 50 per cent of the wards would yield another Rs.1.5 crore, Mr. Nagaraju said.

Vacant lands

The Corporation was taking details of vacant lands and serving notices on owners to pay tax, which was expected to yield Rs.2.5 crores, Municipal Commissioner D. Rama Rao said. Another Rs.5 crores to Rs.7 crores was likely to accrue to GMC after details of all vacant land owners were received but the GMC was providing for Rs.5 crores in its budget, he added.

The meeting did not finalise the total figures for each section nor the total amount as not all members were present, the Mayor said.

Only members present in addition to Mayor were Md. Ghouse and Sudheer. Provisions under APUSP and IHSDP were made as grants to be received to the extent of Rs.11 crores and Rs.10 crores respectively,

but in reality only Rs.2 crore would be received under each head the Commissioner said.

The department heads were also reviewing all estimates for the works to be executed and the final figures would be arrived at within a week, the meeting was told. About Rs.1.25 crores was being spent every month on sanitation and this amount was sought to be reduced through qualitative savings, he said.

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