The revenues of the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) for the year 2014-15, has fallen short of the projected revenue by 29.85 per cent. Against a projected revenue of Rs 486.7 crore for the financial year, MUDA will be able to generate only Rs 341.42 crore, as per the budget, announced here, on Saturday.
Reading out the budget, MUDA Commissioner S Palaiah said, the authority had generated Rs 221.08 crore from April to December 2014 and has projected a revenue of Rs 120.34 crore for the remaining quarter of the financial year. On the other hand, MUDA spent about 30 per cent less for the development of new layouts, providing basic facilties to the layouts and other developmental projects during the year. Against a projected expenditure of Rs 484.38 crore, MUDA spent Rs 339.41 crore during the year. Overall, MUDA recorded a surplus of Rs 2.71 crore.
This attracted severe criticism from some members of the authority, who sought an explanation on why MUDA failed to reach the projected revenue, despite spiralling land prices.
MLC Go Madhusudan said, MUDA has raised only Rs 44.8 crore by auctioning sites, as against the projection of Rs 132.95 crore. MUDA, which had expected to generate Rs 240.56 crore by auctioning corner and intermediate sites, could generate only Rs 93.91 crore, which is less than half the projection.
Similarly, while Rs 70 crore had been set aside for land acquisition, only Rs 37.19 crore was spent by the authority. MUDA had planned to spend Rs 39.16 crore for various works at its layouts, but, it spent Rs 19.36 crore.
Following the poor generation of revenue in 2014-15, MUDA has projected a revenue of Rs 425.97 crore in 2015-16, which is lesser than the projections during the previous years.
Revenue generation
Palaiah said, MUDA is expecting to generate Rs 150 crore by distribution of 1,764 sites in Ravindranath Tagore Layout and 500 sites in Lalithadrinagar Second Stage. Auctioning corner and intermediate sites is projected to generate Rs 160 crore.
According to the budget, MUDA will spend Rs 423.26 crore during the year, of which Rs 90 crore is earmarked for land acquisition. Rs 38.06 crore has been set aside for developmental works at layouts, Rs 25.25 crore for water and drainage works and Rs 50 lakh for ‘tours for training’ MUDA members and officials.
Task Force
Noting that several vested interests are involved in forging documents and encroaching MUDA land, Palaiah said, a task force to prevent it will be formed shortly. It will consist of a tahsildar and engineers from MUDA and police officials.
Commenting on the issue, MLA G T Devegowda said, the task force should concentrate on officials and other persons who forge documents, rather than innocent buyers, who are victims of forgery.