The council of Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Thursday placed the annual budget of Rs 416.74 crore for the financial year 2024-25 with a deficit of Rs 76.75 lakh during a council meeting held at AMC headquarters.

To maintain their pre-poll commitments to the city dwellers, the AMC Mayor Dipak Majumder placed the budget proposal without increasing any tax with introducing different developmental plans to improve civic amenities. The budget proposals t will be passed by the council members on March 11 next after a discussion meeting on budget at AMC headquarters.

The Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) Mayor Dipak Majumder emphasized the importance of prompt tax payment aiming to improve the revenue collection and better civic amenities.

Presenting the 9th budget of AMC under Tripura Municipal Act 1994 the Mayor noted a deficit of Rs 76.75 lakh and said that the deficit can be eased if all taxpayers pay the taxes on time.

The budget proposes to focus on revenue collection through GIS based unpaid wealth tax and trade license instead of raising direct taxes to meet the shortfall.

A total capital expenditure of Rs.31, 377.15 lakhs is proposed for the year 2024-25. Major part of this capital expenditure will be spent on major projects like drinking water system, garbage, drains, market stalls etc.

Majumder pointed out the ‘remarkable’ work done by the BJP-led AMC in recent years. He said that the present council are working on a multifaceted plan and in the coming year too stress will be put on infrastructure development, roads, drains, street lights according to demand and necessity of the city dwellers.

“He said that AMC is working to build a modern Coffee House in the city at Children’s Park premises, the work of which will commence shortly. The AMC also constructed open gyms in all the parks of the city along with renovation of markets and ward offices for all the AMC wards.

Replying to the media queries over suffering of pure drinking water in parts of the AMC and unbearable tortures by mosquitoes, Mayor said that AMC in association with DWS and Jal Board are working to reduce the scarcity of drinking water in corporation areas.

Majumder further said that effective measures will be taken for the development of reservoirs and solid waste management plan in flood areas.  He also said that in the present budget proposal, AMC will purchase more fogging machines to get rid of mosquito bites and urged the city dwellers to maintain cleanliness in their respective houses and should not dump garbage in clean drains.

He also said that all pending works for beatification of Agartala city with job generation opportunities will be completed.

Mayor added that a major share of allocated funds of the budget will be utilized for cleaning of AMC areas and for proper sewage and garbage management.