for private circulation only MARCH 2022 I ISSUE 136

PRAJA aims at enabling accountable governance

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Analysis of Brihanmumbai Municipal

Corporation Budget Speech 2022-23
The Budget Estimates for the financial year 2022-23 is ₹ 45,949.21 crores,
which exceeds the Budget Estimates of 2021-22 i.e. ₹ 39,038.83 crores by 17.70%.

After many perilous trials faced by the city and its citizens during COVID-19, Mumbai has begun to gradually ease out
restrictions to bring the city back to normal. It is now time to turn towards a post-pandemic strategy that works to building
a more resilient and healthy city for its residents. The development-oriented budget mainly stressed on infrastructure,
education and health. A key focus is on carbon neutrality and eco-friendly projects. The themes of the budget circle around
the “Ease of Living”, “Quality of Living” and “Ease of Walking”. In this issue Praja analyses the Municipal Commissioner’s
budget speech for 2022-23 and reviews the budgetary allocations made for the upcoming financial year.

BUDGETARY PROCESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS

The budget process at the national and state level include the budget prepared and presented by their respective finance
ministers, both of which fall in the deliberative (elected) wing of governments. At the city level in Mumbai, however, the budget
is prepared and presented by the Municipal Commissioner, a bureaucrat and an unelected executive appointed by Chief
Minister through the Urban Development Ministry. The elected bodies, namely the standing committee and the Corporation
then just debate on it and make small modifications, following which the budget goes into effect for the financial year.

The budget making process should be participatory and inclusive. Ward committee and zonal committee should be able to
make recommendations for the budget based on various project priority. The standing/subject committee should be
responsible for consolidation, deliberation and recommendation. Council being the final authority, it should be responsible
for deliberation, recommendation and final approval of the budget and there should be no need for approval from State
government. Praja’s Study¹ of cities across 21 states showed that only in Panaji, Kochi, Bhubaneswar, Dharamshala and
Ranchi the legislative wing prepared the budget. Just like the ‘power of the purse’ at the national level is with the Lok Sabha,
the preparation and presentation of the budget should be a responsibility of the elected (deliberative) body of the Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for empowerment, accountability and independence of the local government.

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROPOSED BUDGETARY EXPENDITURE

Graph 1 Difference in the Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates from 2017-18 to 2021-22 (in crores)

45,000.00 Budget Es mates Revised Estimates % Difference

-1.47%
40,000.00
35,000.00 6.75%
2.16%
30,000.00 12.58% 13.72%
25,000.00
20,000.00
15,000.00
39,038.83
27,258.07

33,441.02
21,978.34

23,519.02

30029.66
30692.59

39,612.77
31,182.60
25,141.51

10,000.00
5,000.00
0.00
PAGE 1

2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22

 MARCH 2022 I ISSUE 136

· The gap between Budget Estimates (B.E) and Revised Estimates (R.E) rose in 2020-21 to 7%, however, in 2021-22,
the R.E was higher than the B.E by 1.47% owing to larger expenditure during those years.
· Budget allocation for Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project has reduced from ₹ 1,974 crores in 2021-22 to ₹ 1,340 crores
in 2022-23, a massive 32.12% fall in budget allocations.
· Allocation to the Health Department increased from ₹ 1,163 crores in 2021-22 to ₹ 1,703 crores in 2022-23 (46% rise).
· In accordance to Mumbai’s Development Plan 2034, ₹ 5,624 crore has been allocated for developing toilets, parking
lots, municipal dispensaries and schools.
· Praja has been providing knowledge support to MCGM on E-governance in the city. The introduction of the
WhatsApp Chatbot aims to facilitate easy access of 80 services offered by BMC and would positively bring citizens
closer to local governance.

Table 1 Department wise Budget Estimates from 2017-18 to 2022-23 with percentage change in
year on year allocations

Department 2017-18 2018-19 % 2019-20 % 2020-21 % 2021-22 % 2022-23 %

Water Supply
Project and
2,578 2,697 5 2,495 -7 2,898 16 2,378 -18 3139 32
Operation
Departments

Sewerage
operation, project
1,430 1,493 4 1,380 -8 1,382 0 2,932 112 3098 6
and disposal
departments

Storm Water
844 929 10 1,303 40 1,339 3 1,699 27 2133 26
Drains Department

Solid Waste
Management 2,430 2,606 7 2,889 11 3,291 14 3,659 11 4531 24
Department

Roads & Traffic

1,884 2,059 9 2,383 16 2,280 -4 2,232 -2 2869 29
Department

Health Department 793 868 9 1,001 15 986 -1 1,163 18 1703 46

Major Hospitals 1,094 1,185 8 1,293 9 1,343 4 1,507 12 2055 36

Medical College 337 369 10 420 14 418 0 501 20 535 7

Specialised
213 217 2 244 13 249 2 260 4 320 23
Hospitals

Peripheral
793 928 17 836 -10 819 -2 932 14 1794 92
Hospitals

Transport
451 459 2 467 2 464 -1 479 3 549 15
Department

Development Plan
1,258 1,021 -19 1,635 60 845 -48 2,605 208 1105 -58
Department

Education
1,895 2,151 13 2,204 2 2,288 4 2,258 -1 2565 14
Department
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% Change
 MARCH 2022 I ISSUE 136

ANALYSIS OF MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANS/SCHEMES

Public Health – BMC prioritises its public health infrastructure, by allocating 15% of the budget to it with a focus towards
improving primary healthcare and promotion of a healthy lifestyle.
· ₹ 400 crores have been allocated to developing 200 Hinduhridayasamrat Balasaheb Thackeray primary health centres
(PHC) closer to a citizen’s residence.
· To further strengthen primary healthcare, Dr Mangala Gomare, a BMC executive health officer claimed BMC was
working on extending the city’s dispensary timings, however there was no mention of this in BMC’s budget speech.
· ₹ 250 crore and ₹ 165 crore has been allocated for redeveloping of Bhagwati and Sion hospitals.
· In addition, it has proposed ₹ 30 crores for the development of 200 shiv yoga centers, where online training will also be
available.
· Praja’s “Impact on COVID-19” survey highlighted that a majority of 84% respondents faced mental health issues but did
not discuss their problems with anyone. There is a need to create awareness among the citizens about the myths and
stigmas associated with mental health care and encourage residents to come forward and seek medical attention.
However, no provisions have been mentioned in the budget for the promotion of mental health.

Public Education – The budget will mainly focus on ensuring the safety of physical schooling, digitization of classrooms
and repair projects for schools.
· The Education Budget has made provisions towards completing 1300 digital classrooms in 2022-23. Furthermore,
19,401 students of class 10th would be provided TABS to help them in this new normal.
· The BMC also proposes to set up a skill development laboratory and sports complexes to encourage student
participation in physical education and skill development.
· The Career Counselling Programmes for Higher Secondary Students was proposed in 2021-22 budget for career
awareness. In over a year, it has benefited 11,433 students of std. 9th and 9,800 students of std. 10th.
· Chala Shikuya was a collaborative program between BMC and Pratham to identify and improve learning outcomes and
quality of education in BMC schools. However, during the pandemic, when children were confined to their homes, the
program was put on hold. As schools reopen, the BMC Budget did not mention provisions to further this program in the
following academic year 2022-23.
· In the 2019-20 budget, BMC proposed an independent evaluation of schools by the National Accreditation Board of
Education and Training (NABET). A budget provision of 20 lakhs was proposed towards this. However, owing to
disruptions caused by COVID 19, there have been no mentions of this in subsequent budgets. NABET would be
extremely beneficial in ensuring that the quality of education in Mumbai meets high standards.

Water – The proposal focuses on a water for all policy and raising water supply.
· Praja has long been advocating for equitable distribution of water supply in Mumbai city. Praja’s report on civic issues
in Mumbai¹ showed there is inequity of water supply in Mumbai. 100% metering would be a tool required to resolve this
issue. However, the existing MCGM 24/7 water policy was not highlighted in this budget speech.
· The budget provisions ₹ 200 crore towards a 200 MLD desalination plant, which would increase the availability of a
localized water source in the city.
· The budget also focuses on constructing pumping stations at Mogra, Mahul and Chunnabhatti river, including large
flood water holding tanks. This is a positive step since the average rainfall in 2021 was 2205.8mm.

Sanitation and Solid Waste Management – ‘Solid Waste Management 2030’ plan in the budget focuses on decentralized
waste management infrastructure, targeted to achieve a 30% waste reduction.
· ₹ 1,340 crore has been allocated for the sewage treatment project. A proposal has been made for the creation of an 8
MLD capacity sewage treatment plan. Moreover, the budget also aims to mitigate human intervention with sewage.
Hence, ₹ 26.4 crore has been allocated towards machines that would systematically clean sewer lines.
· Similar to the 2021-22 budget, there continues to be limited budget allocation towards handling bio-medical waste.
Despite large numbers of hospitalisations since 2020, the safe disposal of bio-medical waste has not been prioritised.
· With a budget provision of 1460.31 crores to SWM, BMC plans to introduce electric vehicles for garbage pickup with
segregation compartments, small capacity e-vehicles fitted with bins/compartments (green, blue and yellow) for
separate collection, storage and transportation of segregated wet, dry and domestic hazardous waste for house to
house collection of garbage.
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1: https://www.praja.org/praja_docs/praja_downloads/Report on Status of Civic Issues in Mumbai 2021.pdf

 MARCH 2022 I ISSUE 136

· Praja's report on civic issues in Mumbai² showed that only 1 in 4 toilets were for females in 2020. The BMC budget 2022
mentions rapid progress in the creation of 562 toilet blocks in 2021. However, despite efforts to improve hygiene and
sanitation, there has been no mention in the budget speech for specifically increasing the number of female toilets in
Mumbai.

Environment - In BMC’s budget, there is a special focus on climate change issues and carbon neutrality.

· In BMC’s budget, there is a special focus on climate change issues and carbon neutrality.
· The BMC budget aims to achieve net zero emission in the future, and has formulated a Climate Action Plan in 2022. It
consists of Climate and Air Pollution Risks and Vulnerability Assessment, Greenhouse Gas Inventory and a climate
action cell.
· For a data – driven policy approach to improve air quality, Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Machines (AIQMM) would be
installed across 5 locations, including the installation of 128 sensor based systems which will provide real time data on
the air quality.

Mobility - Infrastructure budget mentions similar schemes as 2021-22, with a continued focus on the Mumbai Coastal
Project.

· The budget proposes to set up a Mumbai Parking Authority, which will be useful owing to rise in private ownership of
vehicles. Parking fares and infrastructure should be efficiently regulated, thus raising revenue and improving parking
facilities across the city.
· ₹ 800 crores have been allocated to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) governed by
the BMC, unlike other cities. This allows for better services and faster resolution of city mobility problems.
· ₹ 147.36 crore will be spent on the beautification of footpaths and space below flyovers.
· Despite these initiatives, the share of public transport had dropped from 78% in 2011 to 65% in 2021³. Thus, BMC needs
to emphasise on bettering public transport to achieve BMC’s goals of an eco-friendlier Mumbai.

Summary- The Budget Speech 2022-23 has made some progressive proposals for infrastructure and environmental
rehabilitation of various locations in the city but has fallen short in carrying forward the past proposed plans like the
unified planning authority made in the budget last year. While the budget speech is only a declaration of proposals, what
is important is to ensure year on year implementation and follow-ups of past set goals and effective utilisation of the
budgetary allocations.

An outcome-based budget should be incorporated to ensure a targeted development within the city. MCGM also live-
streamed the budget announcement this year, as they have been doing so for the past few years, thus exposing citizens
to the process of budgeting. However, it would mean little, if the citizens are not able to comprehend the various nuances
of the budget. Thus, the budget structure needs to be simplified for a common citizen to understand.

2: https://www.praja.org/praja_docs/praja_downloads/Report on Status of Civic Issues in Mumbai 2021.pdf

3: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/travel-in-mumbai-public-transport-share-slipped-by-13-points-in-12-years-
101635439367796.html

Next Issue April 2022 Capacity Building Workshops for Srinagar Municipal Councillors

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