A fixed annual statutory fund could be the answer to cash strapped cities

The expenditures incurred to battle the COVID-19 pandemic has drained coffers of municipal bodies, and it has exposed the fragile financial structure of city governments across India. The subsuming of octroi and local body tax (LBT) after the GST regime came into force in 2017 has aggravated the situation and made cities dependent on their respective state governments for compensating the losses.…