BBMP budget hangs in balance

Though deputy mayor S Harish declared that the budget would be tabled on August 18, the Opposition is in no mood to trust him this time. Harish said the date for tabling the budget was postponed only to bring out a ‘realistic budget’ with a lot of austerity measures.

However, Palike sources told Deccan Herald that new chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda threw spanner on the budget plan as the civic body has pinned too much hope on the State Government. Sources said the Palike wanted at least Rs 3,000 crore this year from the Government.

When the Palike authorities met Gowda and briefed him on the expected grants, he wished to examine the budget before it is tabled. He wanted to have a meeting with the Palike authorities on Monday morning, but could not as he was busy with Cabinet formation.

It was learnt that that the meeting would take place on Thursday.
Sources said they are still persuading the chief minister and the Finance department officials to sanction at least Rs 2,000 crore this year, so as to bail out the Palike from the poor financial condition.

Despite funds crunch staring in the face of Palike, the size of the ‘realistic budget’ this year would not be less than last year’s ‘imaginative budget,’ which was of Rs 8,500 crore.

Opposition up in arms

The Opposition in the Palike is up in arms against the Palike for postponing the budget dates.

Flaying the ruling BJP, the leader of the Opposition in the Palike council and Congress corporator Udayashankar said the mayor and her team have made mockery of the budget as they are not keen to table it.

“Mayor Sharadamma has completed 100 days in the office but her achievements are nil. No development works have been carried out in the City over the last 100 days. Now, she is delaying the budget too,” said Udayashankar.