Big push for infra, BMC schools to be designated as ‘Mumbai Public Schools’

Mumbai, Feb 3 : Hoping to improve the public perception towards the schools run by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country’s richest civic body has decided to redesignate all its schools as ‘Mumbai Public Schools’, while giving a mega-push to infrastructure development of the country’s commercial capital, BMC Commissioner I.S. Chahal said here on Wednesday.
Presenting the BMC’s Rs 39,038.83 crore budget — an increase of 16.74 per cent over last year’s Rs 33,441.02 crore — Chahal said the revenue estimates for the current fiscal was Rs 28,448.30 crore, which has been reduced by Rs 5,876.17 crore and revised to Rs 22,572.13 crore, largely owing to the fall in income because of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns.
Similarly, he said that the budget estimates for the next financial year (2021-22) for revenue income is proposed to be Rs 27,811.57 crore which is Rs 636.73 crore less than the budget estimates of the previous year.
The BMC’s incomes have declined on several counts, including property tax, development plan department, Octroi collections, pending dues from the state government, interest on its investments owing to consistent drop in the repo rates, besides owing to various relaxations granted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the schools front, he said the civic body will also upgrade its 963 upper primary and 224 secondary schools to bring them on par with the ICSE/CBSE boards.
The BMC will also start 10 new CBSE schools this year besides developing 20 out of 63 playgrounds in phases to improve school infrastructure, Chahal said.