EDMC proposes two new taxes, education cess in 2019-20 budget

Cash-strapped East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Monday proposed two new taxes and an education cess in its budget for 2019-20.

EDMC Commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel made the announcement while presenting the budget at the civic agency's Patparganj headquarters. He also presented the revised budget estimates for 2018-19.

Professional and betterment taxes and an education cess have been proposed to augment the corporation's income, a senior official said.

Recently, the civic bodies for north and south Delhi had also proposed the two taxes in their respective budgets.

The EDMC's revised budget estimate for the current financial year stands at Rs 4,391.35 crore, while the budget estimate for the next fiscal year is Rs 4,616.26 crore.

"In 2018-19, Rs 80 crore was earmarked for construction and upgrading roads and drains, which is to be increased to Rs 100 crore in the revised estimates. And Rs 80 crore has been proposed for year 2019-20," the EDMC said in a statement.

It said the collection of property tax is likely to fetch another Rs 271 crore, besides what has already been collected in this financial year.

"For the financial year 2018-19, the EDMC has set a target of Rs 314 crore with respect to income from property tax, and Rs 133.20 crore has been collected up to November 2018," the statement said.

A plan has also been proposed for irrigation of parks using 'treated effluent' coming out of Kondli and Yamuna Vihar sewage treatment plants (STPs), the EDMC said.

Irrigation work will be carried out in 1,338 parks under this scheme. The estimated cost of this work is about Rs 96 crore, it said.