The empowered standing committee of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) passed the annual budget of Rs 21 crore for the 2015-16 fiscal in a special meeting on Friday.

The budget would now be tabled in the upcoming meeting of PMC board slated on March 30.

According to municipal rules, the budget of any urban local body is first approved by the empowered standing committee and it gets final approval once the civic body's board, which consists of all the ward councillors, including mayor and deputy mayor, gives a nod. The empowered standing committee consists of mayor, deputy mayor, five municipal commissioners and four ward councillors.

The estimated revenue in the coming fiscal has been pegged at Rs 465 crore, whereas the expected expenditure has been pegged at Rs 444 crore. This is the second consecutive year when the civic body has come up with a surplus budget, after deficit budgets over the previous six years. The surplus of Rs 21 crore in the upcoming budget is quite high compared to the meagre surplus of Rs 60,014 pegged in the budget for the ongoing fiscal.

"The budget was passed unanimously by all the members of the standing committee in the meeting held on Friday. We would work towards improved civic amenities in the city in the coming fiscal, which would be ensured through timely collection of taxes under different heads," said mayor Afzal Imam, who chaired the Friday's meeting. Apparently, the municipal budget is quite delayed this time. It is normally tabled in the meeting of the standing committee by February 15 every year. Sources said this time the budget was delayed because of the lack of experts in the civic body.

PMC officials said the budget had been finalised over the past few days with support from UKAID, the erstwhile Department for International Development.

The budget has made promises regarding improved internal roads and drains among a few other amenities, on which the civic body would be doing substantial spending in the coming fiscal. Funds for the purpose of development of amenities in the wards have been increased from Rs 20 lakh in the previous budget to Rs 30 lakh this time. Budget allocation of Rs 50.5 crore has also been made towards maintenance of water pipelines.

Residents are, however, cautioned not to pin high hopes on the municipal budget, as several big promises were made through the budget in the previous year but very few of them were fulfilled. For instance, an allocation of Rs 5 crore for augmenting the traffic system was made in the budget for the ongoing fiscal but not a single penny has been spent under the head till date.

Funds to the tune of Rs 45 lakh were kept aside for providing amenities to women but no such facilities could be seen in the city till date. The upcoming budget has ruled out the provision for women-centric amenities.

The previous budget also had provisions for commencing door-to-door collection of garbage in the city but the system is still to commence. Funds to the tune of Rs 28 crore for the waste management project have been carried forward to the upcoming budget as well.