Siddu flays Palike for failure to shore up revenue

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday expressed disappointment over BBMP’s inability to increase its revenue, despite holding several review meetings with Palike officials.

Speaking after the launch of BBMP’s ‘Simplifying Citizen Services Delivery, e-governance initiatives,’ at Town Hall, he said, “Meetings were held specifically to discuss and increase the revenue of the civic agency. But action has not been taken to increase the revenue.”

He directed M K Gunashekar, chairman, standing committee on taxation and finance, to work efficiently like the former chairman Shivaraj and take measures to increase the revenue.

“With the launch of e-governance initiatives, the income to Palike should increase. Else, development works will take a backseat,” the chief minister said.

Taking a dig at the Palike, he said, “Palike repeatedly asks for grants for development works, but they are not utilised properly. If funds are not given, they criticise us. You (BBMP) don’t even have an account of how many properties are there in Palike limits.”

BBMP special commissioner R Manoj said that the Palike website has now been simplified as part of e-governance initiatives. People can easily access information about Palike, its departments and officers. The portal http://bbmp.gov.in/ has been designed by the civic agency in collaboration with Isro.