Rs 1,527-crore bailout for cash-strapped Palike

In what seems to be a bailout for the cash-strapped Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the State government on Friday allocated Rs 1,527 crore in the budget for 2014-15 for civic agency. The bailout, if realised, would help the BBMP stay afloat. 

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the BBMP would get the grant under Nagarotthana, 13th Finance Commission, State Finance Commission, lake development, chief minister’s special grant and other schemes. 

The allocation for the BBMP is a mere 2.32 per cent of the total budget outlay of Rs 65,600 crore. Yediyur corporator N R Ramesh said the allocation looked “attractive” but one had to be cautious, given how the State government had kept its promises in the past. “Last year, the government promised Rs 800 crore but released just Rs 350 crore,” he said.  

Ramesh said  the City generates a revenue of Rs 1.10 lakh crore, out of which Rs 48,000 crore goes the Union government and remaining Rs 62,000 crore to the State government. Among the projects announced, the Palike would develop 164 acres of land in Beggars’ Rehabilitation Centre on Magadi Road as a park at a cost of Rs 10 crore, the chief minister said.