Chandigarh, Oct. 11 -- Despite facing a persistent fiscal crisis, the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) registered a 25% rise in its own revenue receipts during the first half of the financial year 2025-26. Between April and September 2025, the civic body collected Rs.223.42 crore from various sources including taxes, bills, and bookings, as compared to Rs.179.41 crore during the same period last year. MC commissioner Amit Kumar, while sharing the development on Friday, credited the improvement to sustained and strategic efforts aimed at boosting revenue generation. "The growth is a result of measures such as streamlining tax collection systems, adopting digital payment platforms, and strict monitoring of key revenue sources such as property tax, water charges, user charges, and other municipal levies," Kumar said. The civic body, which heavily depends on the UT administration's grant-in-aid alongside its own receipts, has long struggled with financial instability. The grants received from the administration have consistently fallen short of the MC's demands, leaving the civic body grappling with rising liabilities and a widening budget deficit. For the current fiscal year 2025-26, the MC had passed a budget of Rs.2,114 crore, banking largely on allocations under the Centre's fourth Delhi Finance Commission (DFC) recommendations. However, the UT administration sanctioned only Rs.625 crore as a regular grant, while the MC had projected Rs.410 crore in revenue from its own sources. To ease the shortfall, the Centre later provided an additional Rs.125 crore, bringing the total receipts to around Rs.1,160 crore - still barely half of the approved budget. Despite this, the civic body has shown notable progress in several revenue streams this year. Till September 30, the MC generated Rs.100 crore from garbage collection and water bills, compared to Rs.87 crore during the same period last year (see box). Kumar said the MC has also introduced a series of citizen-centric initiatives aimed at improving compliance, curbing revenue leakages, and expanding the overall revenue base. Initiatives such as online facilities, awareness drives, and transparent governance practices have empowered citizens and commercial establishments to make timely payments. The surge in revenue is being attributed to the steep revision in property tax rates implemented this fiscal year. Residential property tax has been doubled to 6% of the Annual Rateable Value (ARV), up from the earlier 3%. Similarly, the tax rate for commercial and industrial properties has been revised to 5% of ARV from the previous 3%. Nonetheless, the MC is set to slash its annual expenditure by nearly Rs.50 crore this fiscal year through a series of cost-cutting measures aimed at improving efficiency, curbing wasteful spending, and creating fiscal space for long-pending development works that have been stalled since May last year....