South Delhi Municipal Corporation budget has eyes on elections

NEW DELHI: As the political wing of South Delhi Municipal Corporation presented its budget on Friday, the focus appeared to be firmly on the upcoming assembly election. BJP councillor and standing committee chairman Bhupender Gupta stressed on development in unauthorised colonies as he announced the budget proposals for FY2020-21. Like the previous years, there will be no increase in property tax this time either, contrary to what was proposed by the SDMC commissioner in his budget estimates last month.
Gupta also proposed not to levy any new tax. “We are not in the favour of putting an extra burden on the people and that’s why we don’t want any increase in property tax, education cess or transfer duty,” he said.

In his budget estimates presented on November 14, SDMC commissioner Gyanesh Bharti had proposed to increase the tax for colonies falling in C, D and E categories from 11% to 12% and merging of A-E properties into one slab and F-H into another.
These categories were to be charged 12% and 7% property tax, respectively. In addition, it was proposed to increase the transfer duty by 1%.
Taking note of high pollution levels in the city, Gupta proposed to spend Rs 10 crore on various projects.
Gupta allocated Rs 50 crore for an “all-round development” of unauthorised colonies, including providing better roads and upkeep of garbage dumping sites. “Work in these colonies will start as soon as the layout plans are approved by DDA,” he said. To ensure that more people from these colonies paid property taxes, Gupta proposed that these be levied from the current year and not retrospectively.
To generate more revenue, the focus will be on cluster advertisements in markets. Already, a scheme is in place at 14 marketplaces and SDMC expects to generate Rs 5.5 crore annually from there.
“After the strict implementation of the Outdoor Advertisement Policy, 2007, and issuing of notices to defaulters, more applicants are coming forward to regularise their self-signage. We are conducting surveys and have served 1,456 notices to defaulters in a year. We expect to earn Rs 2.3 crore from the self-signage scheme next year,” he said.
After simplifying the process for holding events and weddings at farmhouses or motels in Delhi, SDMC aims to bring in a policy for organising functions at banquet halls too.
“The policy will protect owners and event organisers from sealing action. They can erect temporary structures after submitting the necessary fee,” Gupta said.