Bhopal: BMC Eyes Higher Rank Despite 3% Spending Of SBM Budget

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) aims to improve its ranking in the ongoing Swachh Survekshan 2024, even though it spent only 3%, a fraction of its Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) proposed budget in the last financial year.

According to the finance department, the BMC spent just Rs 3.21 crore out of Rs 107 crore to SBM barely 3% of the total. This made SBM the department with least fund utilisation among all other major 15 departments under corporations Rs 3,351 crore budget for fiscal year 2024-25.

Apart from this, departments like Health, Central Workshops and Water Works recorded significantly higher spending.

The Health Department utilised around 60% of its Rs 174 crore budget, spending Rs 104.40 crore. The Central Workshops department spent Rs 127 crore from an allocation of Rs 271 crore, while the Water Works department used over Rs 127 crore from its Rs 304 crore allotment.

Interestingly, none of the departments managed to utilise their entire proposed budget and only the Health Department crossed the 50% utilisation mark.

Other poorly performing departments included AMRUT Yojana, with 95% of its funds untouched and the Parking Department, which used just Rs 5.46 lakh out of Rs 78 lakh — only 7%

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in BMC Shabista Zaki, criticised the corporation’s inefficiency, particularly in the SBM department, Zaki told Free Press that poor execution has led to delays in Central funding for critical groundwork.

On the other hand, BMC Chairman Kishan Suryavanshi claimed that the received amounts if not the entire proposed budgets were largely utilised.

He also assured that strict action will be taken against departments that fail to utilise funds effectively.