The Mysuru City Corporation budget for 2016-17 was flayed by councillors cutting across party lines.
After chairman of the MCC’s standing committee on taxation, finance and appeals, S. Balu, presented the Rs. 806.24-crore budget, Leader of the Opposition in the MCC J.S. Jagadish said it appeared to be only a continuation of last year’s budget with barely any new proposals.
Referring to MCC’s collection of only Rs. 80.26 crore out of the targeted Rs. 142.50 crore by way of property tax and khata transfer for 2015-16, Mr. Jagadish expressed surprise over the budget expecting to raise Rs. 199.80 crore during 2016-17 from property tax and khata transfer. He said the budget was not realistic.
Also, it was pointed out that the MCC had downsized its budget from a staggering Rs. 848.86 crore to just Rs. 506.75 crore last year during 2015-16.
Similiarly, BJP member Nandeesh Preetam pointed out the outstanding bills of contractors amounting to more than Rs. 100 crore and wondered why the budget had not accounted for the huge sum.
It may be mentioned here that the BJP and JD(S) alliance holds the reins of power in the MCC. But, Mr. Preetham sought to clarify that he should not be mistaken for criticising his own party as he was only honestly making efforts to rectify the lapses in the budget.
Congress member and former Mayor Ayub Khan described the budget as old wine in new bottle. He wondered how the MCC proposed to implement a budget of more than Rs. 800 crore when its revenues were barely Rs. 200 crore.
The civic body’s budget was highly dependent on government aid, amounting to almost Rs. 600 crore, including the State Finance Commission’s funds and the grants from the legislators.
Congress member Ayub Khan describes budget
as old wine in
new bottle
