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Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, March 29
The Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar (MCJ) is all set to present a budget of Rs 544.79 crore for the financial year 2017-18. While the civic body is expecting to earn around Rs 534.40 crore as income, it has also saved Rs 10.39 crore from the current financial year.
Out of the total estimates, the civic body is expected to spend Rs 189.10 crore on establishment expenses, Rs 24.22 crore on miscellaneous and Rs 323.85 crore on development works. This year, the MC was expected to spend Rs 537.16 crore and to save around Rs 7.62 crore at the financial year end. Out of the Rs 537.16 crore, the MC is expected to spend Rs 23 crore on installing and maintaining the streetlights in the city. The civic body has planned to install 400 new streetlight points to add further to the 1,900 existing points in the city.
Also, it is planning to spend Rs 30 crore on the installation of new tube-wells. The MC has kept Rs 1.25 crore for the civic polls to be held later this year.
The civic body is also expected to sell its land worth Rs 21.48 crore situated in Jamsher village, Basti Bawa Khel, Paragpur, Dhanowaali, Lamma Pind, Dakoha and Chak Jindaan. While the civic body, which has recently got the city’s name included in the smart city list, failed in recovering the arrears in a majority of the departments, it has set the recovery targets much higher than last year.
While the VAT recovery for the current financial year was only Rs 118.84 crore until December last year, the civic body is expecting to recover another Rs 411.55 crore by March 31 this year and has set the target of Rs 175 crore for the next financial year.
In the building application fee too, the department falls short in recovery and only recovered Rs 4 crore till December last year. However, expecting to recover Rs 66 lakh, the MC has again set the target of Rs 4 crore in the next financial year.
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