The Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike and the Ballari City Municipal Corporation have missed the bus to be included in the list of city corporations under the Smart Cities scheme due to the failure to achieve the required parameters in the tough selection process set by the Union government.
Urban Development Minister R. Roshan Baig, in reply to an unstarred question from BJP MLC Amarnath Patil in the Legislative Council recently, said that while Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike failed under two parameters, Ballari Municipal Corporation failed in three of the 15 parameters fixed by the Union government for city corporations to be included in the proposal.
Mr. Baig said that in the case of Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike, it was the failure on the part of the palike to increase the number of toilets by at least 5 per cent that cost it dear. Also, the low number of toilets in the city as per the 2011 census figures or the figures collected after the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan did it in.
The Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike failed on another count: to have at least 50 per cent of the total budgetary provision through internal mobilisation from taxes, cess and other income.
Mr. Baig said that in the case of Ballari, it was the shortage of toilets and the failure to construct at least 5 per cent of the total toilets was the reasons. Another reason was the failure of the corporation to increase the size of its budget in the past three years and the failure to achieve the parameter of contributing at least 50 per cent of the total budgetary allocations in the form of local revenue mobilisation through taxes and cess.
The other six corporations that were recommended for inclusion in the Smart Cities list are Belagavi Mahanagara Palike, Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike, Mangaluru Mahanagara Palike, Shivamogga Mahanagara Palike, Davangere Mahanagara Palike and Tumakuru Mahanagara Palike.
Mangaluru, Belagavi and Shivamogga Mahanagara Palikes topped the list with an achievement of 96.88 per cent under all the 15 parameters fixed by the Uunion government. Hubballi-Dharwad and Tumakuru City Corporations came second with an achievement of 87.50 per cent.
