Mayor R Priya presented the budget for the Greater Chennai Corporation on April 9th. The budget has placed heavy emphasis on upgrades to and creation of new infrastructure, with focus on stormwater drains. The budget also looks to improve the state of schools run by the civic body and improve the quality of education and activities on offer through various new schemes.
The civic body’s expected revenue is Rs 2824 crore while the expected expenditure is Rs 3613 crore. Bulk of the revenue is to come from Rs 800 crore to be collected as property tax.
What is in store for Chennai?
Schools
- Teams will be established to spread awareness about gender equality among students in Corporation-run schools through activities that involve dance and sports
- Internet connectivity will be provided to 70 high schools and higher secondary schools of the Greater Chennai Corporation at a cost of Rs 1.86 crore
- Exhibitions and fairs will be held across 281 primary, middle, high schools and higher secondary schools at a cost of Rs 40 lakhs. This will help students showcase their skills and gain knowledge on various subjects.
- Free uniforms will be provided for 78,000 students from class 1-8 at Rs 7.50 crore
- Distribution of sanitary napkins and upgradation of toilet facilities will be carried out at Rs 23.66 crores, surveillance cameras will be installed for Rs 5.47 crores and self-defense classes will be conducted with an allocation Rs 6.91 crores from the Nirbhaya Funds
- Tools essential to impart Montessori system of education would be provided to 31 schools run by the Corporation
- Under the CITIIS scheme of Chennai Smart City Limited, there has been an allocation of Rs 59 lakhs for School Management System and Learning Resources Repository Management System, Rs 2.45 crore has been allocated for School Leadership Development and Transformation and Rs 35 lakhs has been allocated for cricket and football coaching
- Infrastructure improvement across 28 schools under the CITIIS scheme has been allocated Rs 25 crores
- For routine repairs and maintenance of the school premises all 281 schools have been allocated a total of Rs 92.35 lakhs that will be made available to the principals
- Chennai Corporation Schools will serve free breakfast for all students through tie-ups with NGOs
- A Youth Parliament will be set up for students to enhance their knowledge on democratic processes
- Students will be allowed to check out books from their respective school libraries
- Spoken english classes will be offered to students across all schools
- For the upkeep of the school premises across all schools, Rs 16.30 crore has been allocated
Public Health
- Three dialysis centres will be set up by the civic body at a cost of Rs 3.50 crore. The centres will be expanded to cover all zones
- For routine repair and maintenance of hospital buildings, there has been an allocation of Rs 5 crore
- Vehicle fleet with fogging equipment will be increased to 30, handheld fogging machines will be increased to 100 and 200 pumps to spray mosquito repellent will be bought by the civic body. Drones will also be used to fight mosquito menace. The allocation for the above is Rs 4.62 crore
- Three new homeless shelters will be built at Rs 2.40 crore
- Animal Birth Control program will be carried out out of two new centres in Sholinganallur and Meenambakkam at Rs 80 crore
- Efforts will be taken to improve the awareness and quality services offered by the hospitals and primary health centres run by the civic body in order to increase footfall by 10%
- Health camps to be held for all frontline workers of the civic body once every three months
- The civic body will work with other agencies to provide shelter and medical aid to homeless and mentally-ill individuals
Solid Waste Management
- Solid Waste Management (SWM) for Zones 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 is under the control of the civic body. Rs 2.90 crore has been allocated for the purchase of 16,500 plastic bins
- The civic body is targeting generation of 1200 metric tonnes compost for the year through wet waste composting
- A bio-gas plant will be made operational in Madhavaram
- The civic body is targeting the recycling and reuse of 54000 metric tonnes of garden waste and coir
- The civic body is targeting the sale of 2600 metric tonnes of non-biodegradable plastic waste to cement factories after being processed by baling machines
- Reduction of waste sent to the landfill will be achieved by using incinerators to dispose of 16,500 metric tonnes of non-biodegradable plastic waste
- The proceeds from the sale of recyclable waste sorted at Material Recovery Facilities will be shared amongst the conservancy workers
- Biomining of Perungudi landfill will be carried out with allocation of Rs 350.65 crore from the Swacch Bharat Scheme
- Battery-operated vehicles will increase in number by 795 as new vehicles will be purchased and deployed for source segregation
- Stations for parking battery operated vehicles in Zones 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be created at a cost of Rs 7.15 crore
- Depots for lorries will be upgraded in Zones 4,5,6,7 and 8 at a cost of Rs 4 crore
- 44 heavy-weight and 30 light-weight compactors will be purchased with funds from the civic body, state and central government under the Swacch Bharat scheme at a cost of Rs 32.38 crore
Read more: City governments need money and power; where does the GCC stand?
Bus Route Roads
- A total of 59 roads will be upgraded at a cost of Rs 37.58 crore under Singara Chennai 2.0
- A further 951 roads will be upgraded as part of the urban roads improvement project at Rs 109.61 crore
- Interior roads affected by rains will be repaired as part of the state disaster management plan at a cost of Rs 65.97 crore
- Relaying of 4 roads inside the Kodungaiyur landfill will be done at Rs 11.08 crore through the capital grant fund
- A total of 26 water fountains will be set up for beautification at a cost of Rs 1.29 crore under Singara Chennai 2.0
- Placing of new digital street name boards for all 4681 streets at Rs 8.43 crore
- A permanent pathway for persons with disabilities will be constructed at Marina Beach at Rs 1.14 crore
- A total of 1000 bus shelters will be set up thorough public-private partnership using a build-operate and transfer model and is expected to generate revenue of Rs 52.26 crore
Stormwater drains and water works
- Under Singara Chennai 2.0, stormwater drains spanning 40.80 kms will be constructed at Rs 184.67 crore, a second phase spanning 20.08 kms at a cost of Rs 70 crore will commence on its completion
- Through the state government’s Infrastructure and Amenities Fund, stormwater drains will be constructed in areas affected by flooding during the monsoons of 2020 and 2021 at a cost of Rs 26.28 crore
- For Zones 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 an integrated stormwater drain network will be constructed with funding of Rs 600 crores from the Asian Development Bank
- Funding of Rs 300 crore from German agency KfW will be used to construct an integrated stormwater drain network
- Restoration of 5 lakes will be carried out at a cost of Rs 143 crore under the Amrut 2.0 scheme
- Desilting of stormwater drains in Zones 4 and 6 will be carried out through the urban employment guarantee scheme
Parks
- A total of Rs 16.35 crore has been allocated for the maintenance of parks and playfields under the care of the civic body
- Under Singara Chennai 2.0, around 2,50,000 trees will be planted in each zone through the participation of NGOs and the general public
- Medians and traffic island maintenance will be carried out in partnership with corporates and NGOs
Read more: A guide to understanding the revenue and expenses of Chennai Corporation
Buildings
- Community centers of the civic body will be maintained at Rs 5 crore
- Community toilets and public toilets will be upgraded and maintained under the Swachh Bharat and Nirbhaya schemes at a cost of Rs 36.34 crore
Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme
- Works will commence on stormwater drains, tree planting on roadside and parks and miscellaneous tasks under the Urban Employment Guarantee scheme that will be rolled out in Zones 4 and 6
Revenue
- Digitisation and GIS mapping of all land assets owned by the civic body along with the launch of an app to make the information available
Electricity
- Dynamic lighting will be installed in heritage buildings for Rs 1.81 crore
- Maintenance of street lights will be carried out at Rs 22 crore
Information and Technology
- Easy property tax payment through QR codes to be launched
- Kiosk will be set up at Ripon building and zonal offices for property tax payment
- Use of digilocker to obtain and store trade licence
- Additional services to be launched on Namma Chennai App
- Launch of E-office of Greater Chennai Corporation
- Dashboard and integrated command and control center to be set up for the civic body for personnel management
- Ward Development Fund with an allocation of Rs 35 lakhs for each ward
- Newly elected councillors to be provided training
Corporates and philanthropists can supplement GCC’s initiative to upgrade infrastructure in Schools and improve quality by adopting one or two schools.
A helping hand to mould and train young minds on positivity, good habits and vision on future will help the nation at large.Only when parents of backward communities realise that Schools are essentially temples of learning and not for midday meal, quality of education can see real improvement. Else allocation will be a drain of good money.