A city as big as Bengaluru and with the kind of infrastructural needs that it demands, the civic body should always have a working budget to take care of the city, said Ms Sapna Karim, head of Civic Participation at Janaagraha. She said that holding up of the budget does not augur well for the city’s development.
Pointing out that previous budgets too did not witness great implementation, she said, “First of all, the budget this year was late. The budget got its approval in May. To the already delayed budget, this hold -up will only lead to further delay."
She said, “Given the lifecycle of the budget, we have crossed the first half of the year and it is time to review how the civic body has fared in all these months. The hold-up will lead to delay in all the projects.”
Ms Sapna said that looking at the current issues faced by the city, irrespective of the party affiliations, one has to urgently look at what the city and its citizens need, what will be best for the city and offer it first.
Citing a letter written by BBMP Commissoner Manjunath Prasad requesting the state government to limit the BBMP budget to `9,000 crore, Ms Sapna said, “The civic body should have financial robustness. A realistic budget should be presented and that is what the commissioner too demanded.”
“We should look back and analyse the data on what were the budget implementation of previous years. We should look at the potential of revenue generation to make the civic body self-sufficient in say another three or four years etc. A clear road map has to be laid to make it self-sufficient and reduce its dependence on state for funds,” she said.
Propety tax collection has not seen any dramatic growth. If the property tax is system is streamlined, nearly 70 per cent of BBMP budget can be run on this alone. Keeping the city clean with all basic infrastructure, parks and playgrounds for recreation etc is the necessity of the BBMP and it has to do it well. “For all these to happen, we need to plan well, have a strong budget and really storng political will,” she said.
Mayor Gangambike who met chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa along with other senior corporators said they have requested the chief minister to approve the budget soon so that the projects are not affected.
Property tax, sole revenue earner for Palike
Apart from the property tax collection which may not even come to the tune of `3,000 crore, the BBMP does not have any major revenue model, said Mr N.S. Mukunda, founder president of Citizens' Action Forum.
He says that the civic body is literally at the mercy of the state government for its funding requirements and is not able to put up a proper budget as it does not know how much the state government is going to allot to it every single year.
If there is a good short fictional story, it can be found in the BBMP budget. With no fixed source of income, the budget is being loaded with projects which need a lot of money and they are at the mercy of the state government, he explained.
He suggests that the BBMP can put up a real budget, if the state government allots some percentage or a fixed sum of money to the BBMP every year. "This way the BBMP need not be dependent on the state government. No matter which party is in power at the state government, the civic body will get its due share. This is how funds from the Centre are reaching every state every year through Finance Commission without any hindrance and whichever party comes to power at the centre" Mr Mukunda pointed out.
Mentioning that the state government applying brakes on the BBMP budget is a clear violation of the 74th amendement of the constitution which bats for more autonomy to the Urban Local Bodies Mr Mukunda demanded that not only to the BBMP, the 74th amendment specifies autonomy to all the Urban Local Bodies.
“A budget is being prepared by the elected corporators. Now, that budget is being put on hold, which is nothing but an humiliation to the elected representatives" he said. Allot BBMP a fixed share of money. Let them look at all the revenue options they have like property tax etc. and prepare a budget which can be fulfilled, Mr Mukunda said.
The decision of the state government to put the BBMP budget on hold spells trouble for a city that desperately needs better infrastructure. Activists say that the BBMP’s overdependence on the state government for funds makes it hamstrung under such circumstances. The Palike should improve its revenues through better collection of property tax and higher rentals from its properties spread across Bengaluru.
The BBMP should also desist from presenting unrealistic, bloated budgets, and focus on financial allocation for projects that can be executed within deadlines, reports Aknisree Karthik
50 projects on hold
- The BBMP council had passed a budget with an outlay of Rs 12,957 crore.
- The Congress-JDS coalition government in May approved an outlay of Rs 11,648 crore for 2019-2020.
- The government slashed the budget by Rs 1,309 crore and approved Rs 11, 648 crore.
- Some of the ongoing projects include: White topping (922 cr), building and desilting of the stormwater drain (1,312 cr), road and footpath works, lake development (120 cr), grade separators and other projects.
