MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar on Thursday presented the budget estimates for the 2025-26 fiscal year in the MCD House with an estimate of Rs 17,000 crore.
Out of this, Rs 4,907.11 crore allocated to sanitation, Rs 1,693.73 crore for education sector and Rs 1,833.51 crore has been earmarked for healthcare among others.
Ashwani Kumar, MCD commissioner while presenting the budget highlighted that by January 2025, Rs. 1,908.06 crore in property tax as revenue has been collected, by December 2024; the corporation has received Rs. 2,653 crore in property transfer duty and geo-tagging of 161,458 properties has been completed.
Highlighting the education sector, Kumar stated that a budget of approximately Rs. 3 crore has been allocated for developing stadiums and sports grounds in schools and a Youtube channel titled ‘Gyanodaya’ has also been launched to provide hybrid-mode of education.
To strengthen the sanitation of the city, the corporation is procuring 14 truck-mounted mechanical road sweeping machines and four super sucker units are being procured for drain cleaning and desilting, Kumar said.
Stating about the health and family welfare department, Kumar said that by the end of January this year, a total of 1,977 cases of cholera have been reported under MCD area. Moreover, 180 new medical officers selected by the UPSC have also been recruited.
From April to December 2024, a total of 97,994 stray dogs have undergone animal birth control and anti-rabies vaccination, he added.
The commissioner mentioned that in order to boost the EV infrastructure, MCD has inaugurated 308 EV charging stations and plans to launch 262 more such stations.
Moreover, the corporation is working to set up three Bio-CNG plants in Okhla, Ghogha Dairy, and Ghazipur to process 750 metric tons of vegetative waste daily.
During the budget speech, Kumar added that eight micro-forests have been developed using the Miyawaki, a Japanese technique of creating dense forests with native plants and five more such forests have been proposed.
Moreover, 51 Green waste management centers have also been established for green waste management, which are processing approximately 60 quintals of green waste daily.
In order to focus on sustainable development, the civic house has converted 258 defective tube wells in various parks into rainwater harvesting systems and rooftop solar power plants with a capacity of 13.25 MW have been installed in 573 municipal buildings.
Additionally, Roshanara Nursery in Keshavpuram Zone has been developed into a “high-tech nursery.”
Kumar added that under the Green Delhi Action Plan, the Horticulture Department has a target to plant 236,000 trees and 383,459 shrub-like plants and by last year, 181,475 trees and 239,810 shrubs had already been planted.
The MCD commissioner also asserted that an Integrated Pension Module was launched in October 2024, through which 469 pension cases were processed, and outstanding dues of Rs. 450 crore for employees and pensioners have been paid under the Seventh Pay Commission.