Cash-strapped Palike presents bruhat budget
BBMP Budget 2011-12: City corporation banks on Central and State grants to tide over
With a surplus of just Rs 1.46 crore from last year, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike presented yet another ambitious, but unrealistic, budget of Rs 9,197.55 crore for 2011-12.
Banking on the State government to bail it out of the financial mess, the cash-strapped Palike has now proposed to boost its revenue generation by bringing schools (unaided), colleges, service apartments and hospitals under the Commercial property tax ambit.
But the promises made in the budget are likely to remain unfulfilled. According to the budget outlay, most ‘ongoing’ projects mentioned in 2010-11 have been carried forward into 2011-12.
“We need at least Rs 2,000 crore for the completion of ongoing projects. The amount has been included in the budget,” said BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah.
Capital expenditure
A whopping 65.73 per cent, that is Rs 9,196.09 crore, of the budget expenditure has been allocated towards capital expenditure for the City. This apart, impetus has been given to the welfare department, maintenance department and administrative expenses.
The budget has set aside 7.18 per cent for debt servicing as the Palike has a debt of Rs 3,000 crore with various financial institutions.
On revenue generation, apart from including schools (unaided), colleges, service apartments and hospitals under the Commercial property tax ambit, the Taxation and Finance Committee Chairman has proposed new optic fibre cable policy and advertisement policy to bring in a revenue of Rs 930 crore.
The Palike is expecting Rs 1,067 crore from the various Central and State grants in the year 2011-12.
The Budget 2011-12 was yet again shown as “surplus” because the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, rules out a deficit one.
BJP fooling citizens: Oppn
Unimpressed with the presentation of an “inflated” budget, Opposition leaders criticised the BJP for ”fooling” the citizens.
“While the Palike does not have the requisite revenue to fund their daily expenses, it appears they want to present a rosy picture to the general public,” said Opposition leader Uday Shankar (Cong).
Shankar said the ruling party, which was unable to meet expectations last year, will fall short this year too.
Seconding the Congress floor leader’s remarks, JD(S) leader Padmanabha Reddy said the Palike will not be able to implement its projects without receiving special grants of Rs 2,377 crore as mentioned in the budget. “The budget will be further inflated and reach Rs 10,000 crore after deliberations with their state leaders,” he added sarcastically.
Reddy demanded that the State government release the special grants before it is too late. “I ask the State to release the special grants for this year, along with those promised in 2009-10 and 2010-11,” he said.
TDR bank to remove touts
The Palike has proposed the setting up a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Bank to remove middlemen and help citizens.
The bank will act as a nodal agency to facilitate buying and selling of TDRs. The Palike will now be looking at financial institutions to partner with them on the project.
The Palike plans to acquire a new GIS-operated pothole filling machine for each of its eight zones. Costing Rs 25 lakh each, the specially designed vehicle with an in-built machine will help the Palike identify the position of the vehicle and whether a pothole has been filled by the engineers concerned.
The project has been implemented in New Delhi and is regularly used in western countries. Sources said the GIS in the machine will be directly connected to the servers in the Palike and will require little or no manual labour.
Promises and allocations
Rain woes
* Rs 419.63 crore for remodelling of stormwater drains (SWD)
* Rs 20 crore for implementing rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in all government offices, parks and playgrounds
Taxes and rebate
* A two per cent rebate proposed for properties which have successfully implemented RWH
* A fine of three times the property tax for those who have not kept their vacant sites clean
* Service apartments will be charged one and half times the commercial property tax
* Marriage halls and hotels will have to pay solid waste management handling charges from this year
Education and health
* A meagre 0.44 per cent allocation, i.e Rs 40.45 crore, for education
* Rs 13.92 crore for construction of buildings
* Rs 81.53 crore for construction of stadiums, playgrounds and other sports promotional activities
* 0.50 percent, i.e Rs 45.98 crore, earmarked for health schemes.
* Free medical kits to girls studying in Corporation schools or colleges
* Rs 36.15 crore for construction of hospitals, maternity homes
* Rs 20 crore for the Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme for BPL families, SC/ST, transgenders, disabled, auto drivers, widows, pourakarmikas, slumdwellers, construction workers
Welfare schemes
* Rs 791 crore impetus for welfare schemes
* Rs 483 crore proposed under 22.75 per cent schemes for housing projects, vocational training courses, assistance to sports, reimbursement of fees, assistance for higher education, providing subsidy etc
* Construction of night shelters for destitutes and for labour class
What wards get?
* 10 percent of ward grants to be reserved for RWH
* Rs 4 lakh allocated as discretionary medical relief grant for each corporator/ward
* Rs 25 lakh for every ward for construction of dry waste segregation centre/ installation of organic waste converter
* Rs 150 crore for construction of 25 houses per ward for the economically weaker sections (EWS) of society under Pandit Deen Dayal Housing scheme
Environment concerns
* Rs 121 crore for development of 127 lakes in BBMP jurisdiction
* Rs 10 crore for establishing ‘Tree Parks’ in the City
* Tree mapping to be introduced for an accurate and scientific database of the flora in the City
* Two cycle tracks on a pilot basis
Miscellaneous
* Rs 2 crore for construction of Palike Bhavan
* Rs 3 crore for beautification of area around Majestic
* Rs 1.5 crore for installing a Vivekananda statue at Yediyur lake
* Setting up of a Technical Library in BBMP and to have HRD programmes for updating the knowledge bank of the Palike technical team in association with reputed institutions like IISc, IIM etc
