The civic body’s 2019-20 budget with an outlay of ₹12,957.79 crore been slashed and brought down to ₹9,000 crore, according to highly placed sources.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget was sent to the State government for approval after the council approved it on March 23. The budget was presented by S.P. Hemalatha, chairperson of the Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance, on March 18.
Sources in the BBMP told The Hindu that the budget cut was in the light of BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad’s letter to the Urban Development Department. He had pointed out that the civic body would not be able to implement the budget, which is 173.61% bigger than that of 2017-18 and 148.09% bigger than the accounts of 2018-19.
“The Finance and the Urban Development Departments have taken cognisance of Mr. Prasad's letter and slashed the budget down to ₹9,000 crore. This has, however, upset some city MLAs and councillors of the ruling Congress and Janata Dal (S) alliance,” sources said.
Opposition Leader in the BBMP council Padmanabha Reddy termed the budget approved by the council as ‘unrealistic and un-implementable’. “The BBMP's record of budget implementation has not crossed 45%. If the government were to approve the budget as it is, the civic body would not be able to implement it at all,” he claimed.
Even within the ruling dispensation in the BBMP council, some Congress councillors are glad that the budget outlay has been brought down. They were upset over the JD(S) cornering ‘a lion's share’ of the allocations. “We could not do anything about it, as both the Congress and JD(S) are alliance partners at the State government level.”
Meanwhile, the government is likely to approve the budget soon. Senior councillors from both the Congress and JD(S), including Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun, her deputy Bhadre Gowda and Ruling Party Leader Abdul Wajid, are likely to meet Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara to finalise the budget.
Mr. Reddy, however, was sceptical and noted that with the model code of conduct is in place till May 25, the government may not be able to approve the budget. “Since only administrative expenditure is being made, with the budget yet to be approved by the government, the BBMP doesn't have the funds to even take up small works. The BBMP isn't even prepared to tackle the rains that have started lashing the city,” he charged.
