VADODARA: Vadodara Municipal Corporation general board began its annual budget meeting on Thursday. While the ruling BJP lauded the budget, the opposition dubbed it as political.
The issue of extra expenses without necessary clearances being made in housing schemes for urban poor was also raised in the budget meeting. The opposition pointed out that there was no mention of the amount in the budget.
Former opposition leader Chirag Zaveri said the civic body had spent an additional amount of Rs165.6 crore on the additional work done on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) housing schemes. "There is no provision for this in the budget," he said.
Zaveri called the budget political and enumerated a series of promises that had been made by the VMC during its previous budgets, but were not fulfilled. He pointed out that the budget was made in the wake of the ensuing assembly polls.
Standing committee chairperson Dr Jigisha Sheth while presenting the budget said it was development and people oriented. "It is directed towards making Vadodara a Smart City," she said.
Some anxious moments were witnessed in the budget when commissioner Dr Vinod Rao started to leave the general board hall to accept a memorandum from the agitating trade unions. The opposition objected to this and also started moving out, but stopped when Rao returned to his seat.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com