As expected, the first day of discussions on the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget saw a divided house with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) praising it and the Congress disparaging it as an “unrealistic budget” here on Thursday.
The discussions began with Leader of the Opposition M. Nagaraj demanding an increase in grants saying it should be increased to Rs. 5 crore for new wards and Rs. 3.5 crore for old.
During his three-and-a-half-hour speech, he dissected the budget and charged that it had some unrealistic projections. BBMP would not be able to collect Rs. 1,300 crore from property tax. “And how can it expect to collect Rs. 750 crore through Akrama-Sakrama? It will not be possible for this fiscal,” he added.
Thimmananjaiya, Peenya Industrial Area Councillor, said his ward generated maximum revenue but lacked the most basic civic amenities. He said that SSLC students in corporation schools in his ward still had not received social studies textbooks. “How will the quality of our schools improve when this is the case? Also, high school students are given satchels that can be used only by LKG students. The shoes provided are of inferior quality,” he said, displaying the items.
