Karnataka CM splurges discretionary grants on MLAs

In a political splurge, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is understood to have doled out Rs 427 crore to 79 BJP legislators using his discretion, much of which was given to Congress and JD(S) MLAs in the previous coalition regime.

Some legislators have received as high as Rs 25 crore towards various development works in their constituencies, which has angered Congress and JD(S) MLAs as their allocation has been downsized.

Last week, Yediyurappa promised party MLAs that Rs 25 crore will be sanctioned to every constituency.

While Yediyurappa is merely continuing what his predecessors did to keep MLAs happy, bureaucrats call it bad economics because the CM’s discretionary grants do not have any budgetary provision, and it goes on to affect works already budgeted for.

"MLAs will individually request for grants to take up some works in their constituencies. Say, by investing in short-term unproductive works, like 300 metres of a road in 10 different locations, the government is prevented from making long-term investments in infrastructure in a planned manner," a senior bureaucrat pointed out, adding that discretionary grants tend to go towards development of smaller roads where "favourable" voters reside at the cost of major arterial roads.

Under the Congress-JD(S) coalition, the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had provided discretionary grants to 132 legislators, including some from the BJP, worth Rs 975 crore. These works, for which government orders had been issued, have been put on hold by the BJP government. This includes over 3,000 road works worth Rs 865 crore sanctioned before the BJP came to power.

Under the Congress regime, then CM Siddaramaiah had refrained from doling out discretionary grants until pressure from legislators got to him in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

"Actually, funds can be spent with or without a plan. All you need is the sanction of the legislature. If you have the legislature’s approval to spend Rs 5,000 crore on roads, but you decide to give Rs 2,000 crore extra, you can go back to the legislature with a supplementary estimate. But it is bad financial management to keep changing your plans in such an ad-hoc manner. It’s a symptom of very poor quality governance," the officer explained.

In Bengaluru, the outlay for Congress and JD(S) constituencies has been cut drastically in favour of the BJP-ruled segments in the city’s civic budget this fiscal.

Former IAS officer Renuka Viswanathan, who is now with the Aam Aadmi Party, flayed the practice of discretionary grants. "Out of Rs 11,648 crore BBMP budget, discretionary grants make up for nearly Rs 1,000 crore,” she rued.