No new tax in BMC budget; focus on infra

Bhopal: Mayor Malti Rai presented a Rs 3,306 crore deficit Bhopal municipal corporation (BMC) budget here on Tuesday but spared the city residents with no new taxes. It was the first deficit budget of the civic body in almost 6 years. “Efforts have been made to balance income and expenditure,” said Rai.However, a last year’s municipal poll promise by both parties over a rollback in water and property tax, is yet to become a reality. Almost 25% of the budget allocation for infrastructure development was based on central government sponsored schemes.The civic body will spend Rs 1 crore on lake conservation in the state capital. Leader of opposition in the BMC council Sabista Zaki said, “Promises by the BJP in their election manifesto included reduction in water cess, which was increased weeks before the civic body poll last year. The budget has no vision for a fast-expanding state capital.”