The burden of electricity bills and vehicle repairs on the coffers of Vasai-Virar! Ignoring solar energy!

The Budget General Assembly of Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation for the year 2026-27 was held on 25 March. In this meeting, opposition leader Manoj Patil highlighted inconsistencies in the budget figures presented by the administration and lack of planning. Especially regarding the rising electricity bills of the Municipal Corporation and the huge expenditure in the name of vehicle repairs, he put the administration in the dock and warned to stop this wasteful expenditure of public money.

On this, Mayor Ajiv Patil adopted a cautious approach and gave strict instructions to reduce unnecessary expenses and re-examine the bills.

In the General Assembly, Manoj Patil strongly raised the issue of electricity bill of the Municipal Corporation. The municipality has made a provision for electricity bill of approximately Rs 83 crore for the next year. Speaking on this, Patil said that even when the state government is giving 70 percent subsidy for solar systems, why is the municipal administration lagging behind in the matter of solar energy?

He said that the administration has not prepared any time bound action plan for the use of solar energy. Just talking about green energy will not work, when will its actual implementation happen?

The Municipal Corporation’s bill of Rs 50 to 60 lakh every month comes only for charging stations and administrative buildings. If solar energy projects were started in time, crores of rupees saved could have been invested in development works.

On this, Mayor Ajeev Patil said that in the first phase, priority will be given to installing solar panels on all administrative buildings. Besides, instructions have also been given to the electricity department to do cross-verification of the bills coming from MSEB every three-four months.

A major issue of the meeting was the vehicle repair expenses of the Municipal Corporation. Manoj Patil said that there is a mismatch between the expenditure on repair and maintenance of vehicles and the actual number of vehicles plying on the roads.

He also expressed apprehension that many times lakhs of rupees are being spent on repairing vehicles that are considered scrap. This expenditure is like a “leakage” in the municipal coffers, which needs to be stopped immediately.

Taking this issue seriously, Mayor Ajeev Patil directed to keep strict monitoring on vehicle repair expenses. He said that repairs should be done only where necessary and expenses should be reduced wherever possible. Besides, the departments in which unnecessary budget has been increased were also asked to reduce it and divert it towards development works.

Manoj Patil also questioned the efficiency of the administration on the issue of property tax. Last year, Rs 17 crore was spent on the survey, this year Rs 20 crore is proposed and next year again a provision of Rs 15 crore has been made.

He said that it is surprising that 5 percent expenditure is only on survey as compared to recovery. When data on gas connections and electricity is available, why is this survey being conducted every year?

Manoj Patil also demanded making concrete provisions in the budget for the conservation and rejuvenation of the city’s ponds. He said that instead of mere beautification, a plan should be made to keep the natural water sources of the ponds alive.

Welcoming this proposal, the Mayor assured to provide necessary funds for the work of the ponds.

Due to several public interest issues raised by the opposition in the General Assembly, the administration had to clarify its position. Now the residents of the city are keeping an eye on how seriously the administration implements the instructions given by the Mayor on transparency and expenditure reduction.