The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget will be presented this week, but implementation of past proposals remains a contentious issue.
Though the BBMP’s revenue has increased, the civic body is still largely dependent on government grants. Nearly 46% of the 2017–18 budget constituted grants from the State government, said Sapna Karim, head of Civic Participation, Janaagraha.
“While these grants have provided a measure of relief, the BBMP’s dependence on them may not be sustainable. The State government should instead devolve revenue powers to the BBMP and hold it accountable for delivery instead of providing grants,” said Ms. Karim.
While the ruling coalition — the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) — claims that the budget implementation has been nearly 80%, the Opposition BJP claims that the overall performance has not crossed 30%.
Padmanabha Reddy, Opposition Leader, BBMP council, said the civic body had not only failed to improve infrastructure in Bengaluru by taking up development works on time, it had also failed to implement welfare schemes. “Not even 10% of welfare schemes have been implemented,” he alleged.
Ruling Party Leader M. Shivaraju, however, maintained otherwise, and argued that the civic body’s fiscal health had improved greatly, what with the BBMP clearing a large quantum of outstanding loans and pending bills.
The civic body’s pending bills were at a staggering ₹2,500 crore and have now come down to ₹800 crore.
The BBMP council recently passed a resolution seeking ₹800 crore from the government to clear all the pending bills in one shot. Its outstanding loans have reduced to ₹1,057 crore from over ₹3,000 crore a couple of years ago. That apart, the BBMP also took possession of four properties — Kempegowda Museum, Mayo Hall Court, Malleswaram Market and Johnson Market — that were leased. “With all these measures, the civic body’s credit rating has seen a dramatic rise — from C to A (minus). The revenue mop-up has also improved, increasing the percentage of budget implementation,” said Shivaraju.
