Mumbai: The percentage of total BMC budget allocation to the city’s 25 administrative wards has shown a consistent decline in the last five years from 18% in 2021-22 to 11% in 2025-26 even as the overall budget size almost doubled, according to a report released by Praja Foundation, in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Thursday.Of the total budgetary provision of Rs 39,027 crore in 2021-22, Rs 7,984 crore was allocated to wards, and in 2025-26, of the overall BMC budget of Rs 74,367 crore, the ward spend allocation was Rs 6,963 crore.Milind Mhaske, CEO of Praja Foundation, said, “Over the past five years, while BMC’s overall budget has nearly doubled, the share allocated to wards has steadily declined from 18% to just 11%. This widening gap highlights the urgent need to strengthen ward-level financial planning.”The study also found that capital expenditure allocated to wards dropped from 10% in 2021-22 to just 3% by 2025-26. While the eastern suburbs contribute the lowest per capita property tax, their per capita revenue expenditure is more than double that of the island city, which continues to record the highest per capita revenue expenditure.Former state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, who was present at the report release, said the findings can serve as a catalyst for strengthening good governance in Mumbai. “All our daily needs depend on the wards and wards, too, are at the front end facing citizens daily. It is my sincere hope that policymakers, practitioners, and researchers will draw upon these findings to advance transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement in the city’s governance processes,” said Kunte.TISS professor Amita Bhide said the report exposed disparities in ward-wise allocations and called for better consideration of population and living conditions in Mumbai’s budget planning. “This report highlights the manifestation of ward-wise budget disparity in the public domain, disparity of allocation within the wards and regions of Mumbai such as island city, and eastern and western suburbs. The findings of this report raise a question on why important factors in budget planning, such as population and living conditions, are disregarded while planning for the city’s budget.“When contacted, civic officials said that in the past three years, BMC’s objective has been to push the capital expenditure on mega infrastructure works across the city. “Ward offices are only responsible for carrying out maintenance and repair works as the bulk of major project works like construction of roads and bridges are executed by the central agency,” said a civic official.
