The government has approved the 2013-14 budget of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) presented by the former Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy, albeit after cutting it down by Rs. 23.72 crore. With this, the budget outlay has come down to Rs. 8,497.38 crore from Rs. 8,521.1 crore.
Budget discretionary grants totalling Rs. 50 crore and special grants to all wards totalling Rs. 347 crore have been removed entirely. The government has cut down the Mayor’s fund from Rs. 150 crore to Rs. 50 crore. However, the Deputy Mayor’s grant of Rs. 25 crore has not been cut.
The funds earmarked for emergency works has also been slashed from Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 25 crore. The Rs. 5 crore earmarked for the installation of the statue of Kempe Gowda at the airport has been cut down to Rs. 1 crore. Of the Rs. 627.07 crore funds under the above heads, the government has retained only Rs. 100 crore. The remaining funds have been adjusted towards other heads. A large chunk has been set aside as the city development funds. Earlier, Rs. 235 crore was allocated under this head, and now it has been enhanced to Rs. 350 crore with an additional allocation of Rs. 115 crore. These funds will come under the purview of the city in-charge and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
Funds totalling Rs. 14.85 crore and Rs. 18.50 crore have been allocated for the comprehensive development of B.T.M. Layout and Sarvagnanagar constituencies respectively. Additionally, Rs. 30 crore has been set aside for the development and improvement of footpaths. That apart, an additional allocation of Rs. 300 crore has been made to asphalt arterial roads, taking the total allocation to Rs. 400. Similarly, a total of Rs. 10 crore has been set aside for the mechanised maintenance of potholes.
Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana said that he was yet to go through the budget approved by the government. He said that he would urge Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to permit the BBMP to present a supplementary budget of around Rs. 300 crore. He added that he would release the Mayor’s grant only after a spot inspection and going through the estimate for the proposed works.
