The Mandya Zilla Panchayat on Wednesday approved a Rs. 838.77-crore budget for 2014-15.
Zilla panchayat president Bharathi Krishnamurthy presented the budget proposals, which include allocations for the zilla panchayat, and taluk panchayats and gram panchayats in the district, during the general body meeting. The meeting approved a plan expenditure of Rs. 239.79 crore and non-plan expenditure of Rs. 598.97 crore.
The zilla panchayat has set aside Rs. 80.56 crore for education, Rs. 33.82 crore for panchayat raj institutions, Rs. 30.12 crore for providing nutritious food to children, Rs.11.33 crore for supplying drinking water in rural areas, Rs. 12.83 crore for Social Welfare Department, Rs. 9.81 crore for the welfare of backward classes and minorities, Rs. 6.3 crore for constructing or repairing roads and bridges, Rs. 5.53 crore for the Animal Husbandry Department, and Rs.1.98 crore for rural development programmes.
Under the non-plan expenditure, the zilla panchayat has allocated Rs. 350.11 crore for education, Rs. 68.15 crore for health, Rs.23.5 crore for animal husbandry, Rs. 21.86 crore for rural development, and Rs. 13.9 crore for social security and welfare sectors.
Members such as Basavaraj and Kempoo Gowda criticised the budget saying that sufficient funds had not been allocated for the Suvarna Grama project, sectors such as housing and agriculture sectors, and watershed programmes.
Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat P.C. Jayanna, vice-president Prabhakar, and standing committee presidents Vijayanand and Manjula Paramesh were present.
