Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovan Chatterjee presents Rs 168 crore deficit Budget

KOLKATA: Mayor Sovan Chatterjee today presented a Rs 168 crore deficit budget of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for the year 2015-16.

While tabling the budget, the mayor said while the projected expenditure was Rs 2904.54 crore, the income stood at Rs 2736.54 crore.

Elaborating the reasons for the deficit, the mayor said a revenue loss of about Rs 90-100 crore was due to a ban on the regularisation of illegal buildings in Kolkata.

A bill has already been passed in the Assembly seeking to regularise such buildings, he said.

Another reason for the revenue loss was the restriction imposed by the defence authorities on construction of highrises within 500 m of defence buildings.

This, he said, will lead to a revenue loss of another Rs 100 cr.

Plans are on the anvil to present a zero-deficit budget for which the different departments have been asked to increase income, he said.

To check the depletion of water table and prevent arsenic contamination, the KMC is working on projects which will ensure surface water supply and put an end to underground water supply like big diameter tube wells.