BBMP Council passes revised budget amid din

Amid noisy scenes, the ruling BJP in the BBMP Council passed the revised budget with an outlay of Rs 9,837.21 crore for 2012-13, which is Rs 338.31 crore higher than the budget tabled on June 28.

While the expenditure on sports and culture has been enhanced from Rs 17.5 crore to Rs 20 crore and allocation of Rs 5.5 lakh for ward-wise works, the expenditure on setting up Kempegowda Chair in Bangalore University has been reduced to Rs 25 lakh from Rs five crore.

Similarly, the budgetary allocation for Kempegowda Museum has been slashed from Rs three crore to Rs 30 lakh. In the revised budget estimates, the Basavanagudi Assembly constituency has got a lion’s share of Rs nine crore. The mayor’s medical grant has been increased from Rs 7 crore to Rs 10 crore, while, the emergency fund has been increased from Rs 39 crore to Rs 99 crore.

The Palike has also dropped the idea of constructing a Palike Bazaar behind the Freedom Park, following strong protests by Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao, who has opposed shopping malls in core areas as it leads to traffic bottlenecks.

Performance-oriented

Replying to the issues raised by the corporators during the discussion on budget from July 2 to July 7, Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda said he tried to bring out a “practical and performance-oriented budget.”

He said the State government has given permission for the multi-story vehicle parking buildings at nine places in the City with an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.

It has approved Rs 200 crore for solid waste management, Rs 200 crore for developing 45 roads under Tender Sure, Rs 618 crore for five signal-free corridors, Rs 50 crore for lake development and Rs 400 crore for the development of 105 major roads.

The commissioner stressed upon enhancing Palike’s revenue sources by bringing all the properties under the tax net and checking undervaluation of the properties.

Besides, focus will be on non-tax revenue sources like OFC, advertisement, increasing taxes on commercial establishments by 100 per cent and improvement charges on DC-converted residential layouts. He also suggested increasing the road-cutting charges to Rs 600 per metre.

Loans and mortgages

In response to questions on mortgages, loans and municipal bonds, Gowda quoted Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath, who had recently said in a meeting in New Delhi that Municipal Corporations should look for options such as municipal bonds, to generate more revenues to ensure good civic amenities.

New mega parks

Gowda said the BBMP aims at setting up two parks on the lines of Lalbagh and Cubbon Park with an expanse of at least 100 acres, each.

The lung space will be developed with the help of Bangalore Development Authority. It is searching for land in Kempegowda Layout and Anjanapura Layout.

Opposition flays

The Leader of the Opposition, M K Gunashekar, has called it a spill-over budget. He said most of the budgetary provisions are aimed at clearing pending bills, carrying forward spill-over works, etc.

Demanding discussion on the new provisions in the budget, the Opposition Congress and the JD(S) stormed into the well of the House and raised slogans. Amid the din, the ruling BJP passed the revised budget.