Ludhiana: Municipal corporation to present budget today, stormy session likely

As the municipal corporation (MC) House convenes on Thursday to present the budget, the session after a gap of nearly two years is likely to be a stormy affair as the Opposition gears up to the corner the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over multiple contentious issues, such as cleanliness, condition of roads and stalled development works, among others.

The MC will present a ₹1,100 crore budget for 2025-26 financial year on at the zone A office before the general House.

Officials aware of the matter aid a lion’s chunk of the budget goes to staff salaries and development works.

Of the total budget, ₹622.78 crore have been earmarked for staff expenses and ₹69.32 crore set aside for contingency funds. The remaining ₹398 crore will be directed towards infrastructure development and civic projects. The largest revenue source is municipal tax and GST, expected to generate ₹680 crore in the next fiscal. It is followed by property tax ( ₹160 crore) and water tax ( ₹60 crore).

Congress councillors, led by Sham Sundar Malhotra and Harjinder Lali, met at a hotel on Ferozepur Road to finalise plans. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors held a meeting at the party headquarters to strategise.

AAP councillors were briefed at the mayor’s camp office.

Party insiders said Congress councillors decided to raise the issue of stalled development works, demanding that the allocation of ₹1 crore for internal wards and ₹1.5 crore for outer wards be restored.

They said they will push for a clear demarcation of councillor quotas, urging that MLAs refrain from interfering in local development funds.

Congress plans to demand immediate filling of vacant sanitation worker posts, citing the deteriorating cleanliness situation, the insiders added.

The Opposition plans to raise concerns over alleged irregularities in ongoing civic projects, particularly streetlight installation. The Congress councillors questioned MC plans to spend ₹40 crore on new streetlights when an LED project is in place. They alleged ‘fancy’ streetlights were being unnecessarily installed along the Buddha Nullah, wasting funds.

After BJP meeting, councillor Rohit Sikka said the proposed budget is ‘flawed and lacks proper planning’. He pointed out that revenue generation from the building branch and tehbazari (temporary encroachments) could be improved but officials were silent on it. He said the BJP will raise these issues vigorously