Thane civic body presents Rs 5,645 crore budget; focus on better tax compliance, infrastructure

The Thane Municipal Corporation TMC on Friday presented a Rs 5645 crore budget for the financial year 202526 with a focus on urban development citizen welfare and financial stabilityThe budget was presented to Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao who is also the administrator as the fiveyear term of the corporators has already ended It is about 129 per cent higher than that of last year when the outlay stood at Rs 5000 croreRao said the budget would not introduce new taxes or tax hikes and instead focus on increasing revenue through better tax compliance To boost revenue collection Rao emphasized bringing unregistered or undertaxed properties into the tax netThe civic body expects to garner Rs 84158 crore from property and other taxes Rs 6508 crore from development charges and Rs 144179 crore through GST and other grantsIt has allocated Rs 80 crore under the AMRUT 20 scheme for urban renewal Rs 132 crore for the Rajiv Gandhi Medical College building and staff quarters and Rs 3 crore for Anand Ashram area development a place associated with late Shiv Sena leader Anand DigheThe civic body has also set aside Rs 285 crore to augment public transport in the city neighbouring Mumbai through its bus service and funds to manage solid waste and make municipal schools betterThe TMCs budget for 202526 focuses on financial prudence infrastructure enhancement and citizen welfare said Rao With a surplus of Rs 66 lakh the corporation aims to make Thane a Swayampurna selfsufficient and Atma Nirbhar selfreliant city within the next 45 years he addedFor the financial year 202425 the original budget stood at Rs 502501 crore However the revenue income from key departments including water supply tax collection advertisements and urban development has seen a decline Consequently the projected revenue income has been revised downward from Rs 345483 crore to Rs 322042 crore Meanwhile the grants received by the Municipal Corporation exceeded expectations Against an anticipated Rs 28432 crore the actual grants received by the end of December 2024 amounted to Rs 91435 crore As a result the revised budget estimates grant and subgrant inflows at Rs 116271 crore A loan of Rs 20 crore for the Amrut 20 scheme was initially planned but will not be availed until March 2025On the expenditure front the revenue expenditure for 202425 was initially proposed at Rs 334566 crore but has been adjusted to Rs 303477 crore in the revised budget Capital expenditure on the other hand has been revised upward to Rs 206750 crore compared to the originally proposed Rs 1679 crore owing to an increase in capital grantsDuring the session Thane Transport Service Manager Bhalchandra Behere also presented the transport budget of Rs 895 crore for 202526 to Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao underscoring the corporationrsquos focus on improving public transport infrastructure