It’s that time of the year again when citizens can give their inputs for the city’s budget. Scheduled to be tabled in the second half of February, preparations for the budget have already begun.
Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, on Thursday, launched its annual MyCity-MyBudget campaign in collaboration with the BBMP.
The budget input forms will be available at ward offices and all Indira Canteens. A campaign bus will tour the city till February first week to collect inputs from various residential localities, said Sapna Karim, head, civic participation, Janaagraha. “We will compile all the inputs after February first week and submit it to the BBMP for formulation of the city budget,” she said.
'Citizens' voices must find a place'
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad, while flagging off the campaign, said, “Ultimately, citizen voices and their wish-lists have to find a place in the BBMP’s budget. And we have made a small beginning and would like to take it forward so that, with the formation of ward committees, a major chunk of the BBMP budget of 2018-19 will come from citizens.”
Of the 57,197 inputs given by citizens last year, 12,468 suggestions amounting to ₹515 crore were incorporated in the 2017-18 budget, Janaagraha said.
