<p>With impending polls to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and dwindling funds from the centre, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa appears to have walked a tightrope in presenting the budget.</p>.<p>The chief minister consciously chose issues such as road traffic, worsening garbage crisis and degradation of waterbodies in his budget speech to win the confidence of the citizens. Surprisingly, the programmes announced by the chief minister are already in the public domain.</p>.<p>“We don’t see anything new in the budget for Bengaluru as most of the projects were announced by us (Congress and coalition government). None of them has any vision for the development of the city. We will be happy if they continue and complete whatever has been started by us,” said Ramalinga Reddy, former minister and MLA from BTM Layout.</p>.<p>The state government has vowed to make Bengaluru a model for the country in handling solid waste. Repeatedly warned by the high court over the poor management of solid waste disposal, the state government has approved Rs 999-crore action plan to address solid waste management under the “Shubhra Bengaluru” programme.</p>.<p>Considering the nature of problems and complex issues faced by the civic bodies in Bengaluru Yediyurappa has announced to come up with a “Municipal Corporation Act” exclusively for Bengaluru.</p>.<p>“There is nothing new formulating a separate act for BBMP. In fact, it is the need of the hour and we have been demanding the government make a separate law to govern the BBMP. If they do it now, it will be good for the city and citizens,” explained Srinivas Alavilli, cofounder of Citizen for Bengaluru (CfB).</p>.<p>The government has approved a Rs 100-crore action plan to prevent pollution of lakes from sewage. This apart, Rs 317 crore has also been diverted from the ‘Mukhyamantrigala Navanagarothana’ scheme for the development of lakes.</p>.<p>The government has promised to release Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years for repairing the roads damaged due to the works taken up by the BWSSB.</p>.<p>“Previously, we had allocated funds for the repair of roads. But the same money was diverted to repair roads in wards. Hence, all major roads were neglected. Today, the traffic congestion is felt only on such roads and in the coming days, it is set to worsen,” explained Ramalinga Reddy, a former minister.</p>
<p>With impending polls to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and dwindling funds from the centre, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa appears to have walked a tightrope in presenting the budget.</p>.<p>The chief minister consciously chose issues such as road traffic, worsening garbage crisis and degradation of waterbodies in his budget speech to win the confidence of the citizens. Surprisingly, the programmes announced by the chief minister are already in the public domain.</p>.<p>“We don’t see anything new in the budget for Bengaluru as most of the projects were announced by us (Congress and coalition government). None of them has any vision for the development of the city. We will be happy if they continue and complete whatever has been started by us,” said Ramalinga Reddy, former minister and MLA from BTM Layout.</p>.<p>The state government has vowed to make Bengaluru a model for the country in handling solid waste. Repeatedly warned by the high court over the poor management of solid waste disposal, the state government has approved Rs 999-crore action plan to address solid waste management under the “Shubhra Bengaluru” programme.</p>.<p>Considering the nature of problems and complex issues faced by the civic bodies in Bengaluru Yediyurappa has announced to come up with a “Municipal Corporation Act” exclusively for Bengaluru.</p>.<p>“There is nothing new formulating a separate act for BBMP. In fact, it is the need of the hour and we have been demanding the government make a separate law to govern the BBMP. If they do it now, it will be good for the city and citizens,” explained Srinivas Alavilli, cofounder of Citizen for Bengaluru (CfB).</p>.<p>The government has approved a Rs 100-crore action plan to prevent pollution of lakes from sewage. This apart, Rs 317 crore has also been diverted from the ‘Mukhyamantrigala Navanagarothana’ scheme for the development of lakes.</p>.<p>The government has promised to release Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years for repairing the roads damaged due to the works taken up by the BWSSB.</p>.<p>“Previously, we had allocated funds for the repair of roads. But the same money was diverted to repair roads in wards. Hence, all major roads were neglected. Today, the traffic congestion is felt only on such roads and in the coming days, it is set to worsen,” explained Ramalinga Reddy, a former minister.</p>
