Rs10 crore budget for heritage festival

The standing committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Thursday sanctioned Rs10 crore for the Heritage Festival which will be celebrated for a fortnight starting August 1. The festival will celebrate the World Heritage City (WHC) tag that the city received from Unesco on July 8.

“We have sanctioned Rs10 crore for the celebration. The state government has also assured financial assistance for the event. We are expecting 50% of the total expenditure to be funded by the state,” said Pravin Patel, standing committee chairman. It should be noted that in 2015, AMC spent Rs32 crore for events like Pravasi Bhartiya Divas and Vibrant festival. The state government had promised to reimburse the amount later, but that has not happened till date.

During the zero hour discussion, in response to a query on the poor condition of roads, municipal commissioner Mukesh Kumar said that strict action would be taken against those involved in construction of such roads. Meanwhile, Patel mentioned that on an average, the civic body spends Rs250 crore in a year on making or resurfacing roads.