One for the road: State grants BMC Rs 17.8cr

MUMBAI: Desperately trying to implement the Bombay High Court’s stringent directive to fill potholes on city roads, the BMC on Monday got some respite from the state government in the form a grant of Rs 17.8 crore.

This grant is to be used for filling the potholes and repairing the roads, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told BMC officials at a workshop at the Mantralaya for municipal bodies in the state.

The urban development ministry, headed by Mr Deshmukh, has released an accumulated grant of Rs 112 crore to several municipal bodies in the state including the BMC for road works. Ironically, the grant of Rs 17.8 crore released to the BMC is only a fraction of around Rs 560 crore dues that the state government owes to the civic body.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr Deshmukh asked municipal bodies to increase their sources of revenue to reduce dependence on the government grants. The chief minister recommended roping in private players for development of public utility plots to generate more revenue.

Mr Deshmukh stressed the need for upgradation of urban infrastructure and reforms in urban administration in the context of the latest census figures which reveal that almost 50% of Maharashtra’s population lives in urban or semi-urban pockets.

The chief minister pointed out that five cities in the state — Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, and Nashik — have been selected under the National Urban Renewal Mission.

Minister of state for urban development Rajesh Tope referred to a growing demand from traders in the urban pockets to abolish octroi. He asked elected representatives in the municipal corporations to consider consequences of replacing octroi with additional value-added tax and other levies.