BBMP's surplus budget sinks under Karnataka government's revised allocation

Despite the BBMP presenting a surplus budget earlier this month, the civic body is destined to have a significant shortfall in its revenues with the state government piling more works.

The revised budget approved by the state government stands at Rs 11,524 crore even as it introduced additional works worth Rs 577 crore. This is expected to impact the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) financial planning, pushing the civic body to source the shortfall internally.

The Urban Development Department (UDD) order dated March 24 stated that the government has approved the BBMP budget for financial year 2023-24 presented on March 2. The order said the civic body is allowed to raise the budget size by Rs 367 crore, which would force the BBMP to drop works worth Rs 210 crore, which was part of the original budget.

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Who gets what

The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) is the primary beneficiary of the state government’s budget with allocation for waste disposal increasing from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,100 crore. The government cited the need to implement orders from the Supreme Court, the high court and the National Green tribunal (NGT) for increasing the allocation.

It’s learnt that the BBMP’s original budget had earmarked funds only for the collection and transportation of waste from houses and commercial establishments. No other fund was allocated for works undertaken by BSWML, a separate entity carved out of the BBMP.

Discretionary funds

Surprisingly, the revised budget has allocated large sums for discretionary use of the mayor (Rs 150 crore), deputy mayor (Rs 25 crore), chief commissioner (Rs 75 crore), standing committee on finance and taxation (Rs 25 crore), Bengaluru development minister (Rs 250 crore). This amounts to Rs 575 crore, significantly higher than the BBMP’s original allocation of Rs 400 crore.

Should the BBMP council elections get postponed one more time, the BBMP administrator, a senior IAS officer, will control the discretionary funds allotted for the mayor, deputy mayor and the standing committee. Very little public record exists on how the discretionary funds are utilised.