The BBMP’s Rs 10,688 crore budget has failed to address many of the problems that have been dogging the city for years like solid waste management, burgeoning traffic, overflowing storm water drains, stinking drains and pollution,” regrets Mr D S Rajshekar, president of Citizens’ Action Forum.
When the city is notorious for traffic gridlocks all through the day, the BBMP should have co-ordinated with the traffic police to address this problem and focused on providing multi-level parking facilities, in his view.
“The BBMP and the state government are capable of planning projects like the steel flyover, which serve no purpose and add to the pollution, but take hardly any initiative for improving the city’s green cover,” the activist laments.
Coming down hard on the allocation made for air purifiers, he says it only demonstrates the contempt the BBMP has for Bengaluru’s green cover that does this job naturally.
Mr Mruthyunjay, a research scholar, finds it objectionable that the budget has shown scant regard for pedestrians and failed to make the city women and senior citizen- friendly although it has doled out some projects for women and children.
“Due to the lack of co-ordination among agencies our lakes are stinking, manholes and drains are overflowing, and our roads have turned into a dangerous place for pedestrians,” he regrets.
Suggesting that lakes be revived to make them into attractive spots for locals and tourists, he believes bus shelters too must be improved with an information system for passengers.
“But instead, they are dirty and not user- friendly. As a result the public transport support of the city is suffering,” he notes.
Mr Mruthyunjay suggests that rather than presenting an inflated budget, the BBMP must be financially disciplined and ensure that it is not trapped in debt.
He finds it disappointing that the civic body has failed to tap the potential of property tax to help it generate more revenue.
“For the last three years, the BBMP has been chanting the mantra of a total station survey to mop up more revenue, but year after year it has failed to increase its revenue earning potential,” he observes.
