BMC Releases Budget with Inputs from Citizens

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) presented its budget for the financial year (FY) 2023- 2024 on 4th February, 2023. The budget has an allocation of ₹52,619.07 crore, which makes the budget 14.25% higher than last year’s budget (₹45,949.21 crore). An employee of the budget department at the BMC said, “This is the first time that the BMC budget has crossed the 50 crore mark.”

The focus of this year’s budget has been on traffic, road connectivity, and health. The explanation behind the breakdown of the project was made clear in a speech by Iqbal Singh Chahal, the state-appointed administrator of the BMC. This speech is accessible to the common citizens through the MyBMC web portal.

As per the budget, the MMRDA has gotten ₹3,630.71 crore, the coastal road department has been allocated ₹3,553.26 crore, the bridges department has got ₹3,179.81 crore, while the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) has got ₹1,060 crore.

This was the first year that the civic body opened itself to suggestions from the citizens. The BMC official says, “We cannot say that a citizen is ignorant. This is their city, so they have the right to be heard.” He further states that they often receive emails and letters from concerned citizens. “This is merely the first time that it has become official.”

Pune, another city in Maharashtra, has had a Citizen Participatory Budget since the FY 2007 initiated in 2007. The basic idea was to engage citizens in the process of budget creation by inviting their suggestions regarding municipal budget allocation through an online forum. Citizens may suggest works, such as road work or other public amenities involving a cost of up to Rs 5 Lakhs.

The BMC has received close to 1000 suggestions from citizens for the budget. The official deadline for the suggestions was 28th Jan 2023. Another official in the accounts department notes that suggestions came in from associations and NGOs as well.

She says that citizens' suggestions have been taken into account in the new budgetary bill. “We took all suggestions very seriously. If you look at the official speech put up on the website, it is even mentioned which ones we implemented.”

The budget was presented seven days after the deadline of the exercise. Apart from the speech, there is no directory to see what suggestions were put forth, and implemented.

Shweta Arte, a resident of Colaba feels that the exercise was just a gimmick. “They called for suggestions, but there was no formal way to lodge it. In Pune, the process is very systematic, and it is well-known as well. And how can they edit the budget that fasts? No changes can be made in such a short period of time.”