Taken aback with the spend on administrative expenses by the Bengaluru Urban zilla panchayat, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa directed officials and members to focus on mobilising resources, apart from taking up citizen-centric development works.
The Chief Minister, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, chaired a review meeting of the works taken up by the zilla panchayat on Tuesday.
During the meeting, he lambasted the zilla panchayat officials on learning that of the annual revenue of ₹578.58 crore, as much as ₹317.48 crore went towards payment of salaries and ₹257.34 crore towards transportation.
L.K. Atheeq, principal secretary, Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said that the 93 gram panchayats coming under Bengaluru Urban limits collected ₹180 crore as property tax annually. He admitted that many properties are not under the tax net. “By using technology to bring more properties under the tax net, another ₹500 crore may be collected,” he said.
Officials suspended
Mr. Yediyurappa directed the officials concerned to suspend two officials, one from the Slum Board and another from the Ambedkar Development Corporation, for not turning up at the meeting.
