Thane, Mar 7 (PTI) Thane municipal commissioner and administrator Abhijit Bangar on Thursday approved a Rs 5,025 crore budget for the city including a provision of Rs 5 crore for a memorial of Shiv Sena leader late Anand Dighe, while not increasing or adding taxes.
Dighe, who died in 2001, is considered to be the political mentor of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who represents Kopri-Panchpakhadi assembly seat in the city.
The memorial will come up at the site of the present mayor's bungalow which will be shifted elsewhere.
Like several other municipal corporations in the state, the Thane corporation does not have an elected body as elections are pending for the last two years.
While the TMC expects to have income of Rs 5,025.01 crore in 2024-25, the budget provided Rs 5,024.67 crore under various heads of expenditure.
The allocation includes Rs 1,679 crore for capital expenditure, Rs 1,515.70 crore for wages and allowances, Rs 831.88 crore for operation and purchase for operations, Rs 416.90 crore for administrative and other expenses, Rs 183 crore for maintenance and repairs and Rs 137.90 crore for various schemes.
While property tax collection for 2023-24 was satisfactory, the water tax collection left much to be desired. Against the target Rs 225 crore, only Rs 102 crore were collected.
Chief Minister Shinde had given specific directions to concentrate on facilities for women, senior citizens and children in the budget, the commissioner said.
The civic transport body will provide exclusive buses for women, and the free travel facility for the elderly -- currently available for those who are above 75 -- will be extended to those above 60.
The corporation will set up Narendra Modi Thane Central Library' at a cost of Rs 1 crore. <br> A memorial of late Anand Dighe would come up where the mayor's bungalow is located and a sum of Rs 5 crore has been provided for the same. The mayor's bungalow will be relocated, for which a provision of Rs 1 crore has been made.<br>Another Rs 1 crore has been provided for improvement of the area aroundAnand Ashram', Dighe's erstwhile office.