In a substantial development, Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to provide INR 700 crores to the railway administration for the construction of bridges on the railway line.
Moreover, the railway administration has demanded INR 700 crores from the civic body for the construction of pedestrian bridges on Central and Western Railway, Railway Bridge at Lower Parel, re-girding of Ferrar Railway Bridge and Byculla Railway Bridge.
The civic body has allocated INR 200 crores in the revised budget of 2020-21 and INR 200 crores in the budget of 2021-22 to pay this amount to the Railways.
Meanwhile, in view of the massive financial crisis due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the BMC asserted to have spent only 48 per cent of its budget allocated in 2020-21 fiscal year on various development projects, however, several big-ticket projects such as waste to energy plant at Deonar, the Tansa cycling tracks, Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP), Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) are developing at snail’s pace.
On the other hand, on February 3, the BMC informed of the allocation of funds for its education budget for the year 2021-22. The budgetary estimates for the year are set at INR 2945.78 crores, which is marginally higher than that of the previous year wherein the budgetary estimates were INR 2944.59 crores.
The civic body further informed that it is to spend INR 88.87 crores on providing free scholastic materials to school children. The primary department is to receive INR 70 crores whereas the secondary department will receive INR 18.87 crores.
