<p>Bengaluru: Reacting to the city’s municipal budget, NGO Janaagraha has urged the five corporations to provide real-time access to expenditure at the street and neighbourhood levels.</p>.<p>"We need a significantly better imagination of budgeting for the city. There is a need for the state government, Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), and new municipal corporations to prove themselves to the citizens that they are serious about breaking the status quo of poor governance in the city. That can only come from radical transparency in civic works and spending at the first mile," said Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO of Janaagraha.</p>.<p>Analysing the budget, the NGO said development work expenditure accounts for the largest share across corporations, but drops in North (41%) and South (47%) compared to East (62%) and Central (63%).</p>.<p>"The North Corporation stands out for higher establishment and programme spending — with 17% on establishment and 11% on programme expenses,” the press note stated. “Bengaluru North has the largest overall social welfare budget at Rs 289 crore.”</p>.<p>It also noted that East and Central corporations rely heavily on tax revenues, while North and West depend more on non-tax revenues. "State grants are compensating for weaker own revenues in some corporations. North (23%) and West (31%) rely on Government of Karnataka capital grants, compared to just 10% in East. This reflects their lower capacity to generate tax revenues (18% in North and 17% in West Vs 24% in East).”</p>.<p>In effect, Janaagraha said the city generates roughly Rs 55 out of every Rs 100 it spends from its own sources.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Reacting to the city’s municipal budget, NGO Janaagraha has urged the five corporations to provide real-time access to expenditure at the street and neighbourhood levels.</p>.<p>"We need a significantly better imagination of budgeting for the city. There is a need for the state government, Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), and new municipal corporations to prove themselves to the citizens that they are serious about breaking the status quo of poor governance in the city. That can only come from radical transparency in civic works and spending at the first mile," said Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO of Janaagraha.</p>.<p>Analysing the budget, the NGO said development work expenditure accounts for the largest share across corporations, but drops in North (41%) and South (47%) compared to East (62%) and Central (63%).</p>.<p>"The North Corporation stands out for higher establishment and programme spending — with 17% on establishment and 11% on programme expenses,” the press note stated. “Bengaluru North has the largest overall social welfare budget at Rs 289 crore.”</p>.<p>It also noted that East and Central corporations rely heavily on tax revenues, while North and West depend more on non-tax revenues. "State grants are compensating for weaker own revenues in some corporations. North (23%) and West (31%) rely on Government of Karnataka capital grants, compared to just 10% in East. This reflects their lower capacity to generate tax revenues (18% in North and 17% in West Vs 24% in East).”</p>.<p>In effect, Janaagraha said the city generates roughly Rs 55 out of every Rs 100 it spends from its own sources.</p>
