The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) which has been reeling under financial crisis, gets some relief in terms of GST grant. The grant has been increased to Rs 100.05 crore from Rs 83.50 crore. At the same time, the cuts made in the grant in April and May have also been compensated by the state government. In such a situation, it will help overcome financial crisis to some extent.
NMC was getting Rs 93.5 crore as GST grant every month. Till March, the entire amount of the grant was deposited in the chest of NMC but as the Covid infection progressed, the economic condition of the state government became turbulent. As a result, in April and May, NMC received only Rs 50 crore each as GST grant. An amount of Rs 43.5 crore each outstanding for the respective month was also deposited in the NMC’s account in a phased manner. NMC’s GST grant has increased by Rs 7 crore to Rs 100.05 crore since June. Since that month, NMC has started receiving full grants regularly.
NMC has the expenditure of Rs 115 crore to Rs 120 crore per month. It includes expenditure in the heads of salary, pension, establishment cost, electricity, water and other necessary heads. NMC earns from property tax, water tax, town planning tax, market tax and others. In such a situation, the financial crisis of NMC has improved to some extent. However, the liability of the contractors on NMC is still around Rs 200 crore. Apart from this, there are many other expenses. For this, NMC has to struggle to raise money.
Standing committee chairman Pintu Zalke said that as soon as the GST grant was cut in April and May, he continued to follow up it. “The amount that was deducted was also given. Not only this, the grant amount has increased to Rs 100.05 crore. Due to this, the financial condition of NMC has improved slightly,” he said.