Amidst dwindling revenue due to economic slump, the ruling body at Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has written to State Government and asked a special grant of Rs 500 crore for completion of ongoing development works in city.

Vijay Zalke, Chairperson, Standing Committee, has sent a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray regarding the financial grant.

Zalke said that in the fight against COVID-19, NMC’s revenue has been stretched to limit. Now, to contain further spread of coronavirus, the civic body outreach needs financial back-up as its own coffers are nearly empty. Due to lack of revenue, the development works in city have come to a standstill thereby putting citizens in trouble. The incomplete works have held up development that would have made the city more livable for citizens of the second capital of the State.

The Chief Minister was informed that development of various new aspects is necessary to ensure that the city is worth its status of second capital. Similarly, NMC is duty bound to look after health of its citizens and for the same there is need for a multispeciality hospital and it is possible only with liberal help from the State Government.

Therefore, Zalke mentioned in the letter, the grant of Rs 500 crore can help NMC tide over the current financial crisis that has hit hard the development projects that are half way through due to which the citizens have been hit hard. The pandemic has hit hard the revenue generation as the economic slump dwindled General and Service Tax (GST) collections as buyers have simply disappeared from markets. State Government also is busy in fighting against COVID-19 and balance expectations of the citizens.