BMC Budget: Water Cess Hiked up from Rs 60 to 180
In its general council meet, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has passed a proposal to hike up water cess in the state capital from the existing Rs 60 to Rs 180 per month, said media reports.
The Bhopal mayor Krishna Gaur, who presented a deficit Budget of Rs 51.58 crore, initially proposed a hike in water cess from Rs 60 to Rs 220 and later, a consensus of increasing to Rs 180 was reached, reports said.
The rise proposed in the Budget of the newly formed BMC is likely to evoke sharp reactions in the city, which gets water on alternated day. Moreover, some areas of the capital are not connected through the water supply network and depend on tankers that too come barely twice in a week.
The BMC, however, cited some reasons for the hike – increased developmental cost, laying water supply network and funds required for making overall development of the city, reports said.
Notably, the contentious proposal was passed without a serious debate in the general council meeting, said reports.
After the Budget speech of Mayor Krishna Gaur, a group of Congress Corporators led by Mahira Salamuddin were demanding time for going through the Budget properly, reports said.
But another Congress corporator Mohammad Sageer barged in with a list of amendments stating that if BMC was ready to accept it which also mentioned increasing water cess to Rs 180 instead of Rs 220, the Congress would pass it.
The Mayor immediately accepted the amendments proposed by Sageer and objective of increasing the water cess got passed in the council.
