BMC yet to recover arrears over Rs 2,700 crores

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation having an annual budget of over Rs 26,000, yet to recover arrears to the tune of Rs 2,787 crore till March 2012.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation having an annual budget of over Rs 26,000, has been struggling to recover arrears to the tune of Rs 2,787 crore till March 2012 from various sources. The arrears include rent from leaseholders of civic property, penalties and excess payments from contractors and premiums from developers. According to officials from Municipal Chief Auditors department, the BMC could have used this money to construct number of tunnels to connect water pipelines in order to resolve city`s growing water woes apart from several infrastructure projects undertaken by the civic body. "The outstanding amount was revealed in an internal audit test report submitted by the chief auditor`s department to the standing committee recently," they said. Also, the civic-administration is planning to shut the Municipal Chief Auditors department. "Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), Rajeev Jalota issued a circular on January 5, stating that they are either planning to shut the department or it will be merged with any other department," officials said. "We have apprised the standing committee on the issue, which in return has written a letter to Jalota, seeking an explaination in this regard," they added. The officials also alleged that since 1997, examination for senior auditors have not been conducted. PTI