Sat Mar 22 19:07:45 UTC 2025: ## Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Passes ₹1,454 Crore Deficit Budget

**Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh (March 23, 2025):** The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) council approved a ₹1,454.58 crore budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year on Saturday. The budget, presented by Mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, reflects a deficit of ₹145.05 crore, with estimated expenditure exceeding estimated income by that amount. This is slightly lower than the previous year’s budget of ₹1,460.82 crore.

Revenue sources include tax collections (₹332.86 crore), water supply and drainage income (₹82.1 crore), town planning (₹61.46 crore), and central and state government grants totaling ₹453.15 crore. The budget also anticipates ₹100 crore from Urban Reforms Funds and ₹73 crore from the 15th Finance Commission.

Notable budgetary increases include allocations for stray animal control (increased to ₹5.5 crore from ₹2 crore), road and pavement maintenance (₹9 crore from ₹7.5 crore), and sewage drain maintenance (an increase of ₹2.2 crore). However, the allocation for canal beautification has been drastically reduced to ₹75 lakh from ₹5 crore. The allocation for Budameru Development has been set at ₹7.5 crore, while ₹32 crore is earmarked for the development of all 64 VMC divisions.

Opposition parties expressed concerns about the budget’s deficit and questioned the allocation for hill area development, which has been reduced to ₹2 crore from ₹5 crore, citing insufficient funds for the numerous divisions in the hill areas. They also criticized the lack of spending on previous years’ allocations for projects like Budameru development. The TDP and CPI(M) floor leaders voiced concerns about the increased burden on taxpayers and called for increased allocations for several key areas.

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