The cash-strapped Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) seems to have got some respite as it has been allocated more than Rs 3,000 crore in the budget.
Only Rs 1,660 crore was allocated to the BBMP in the last year’s budget. In fact, last year, the BBMP received a raw deal from the State government as it had released only Rs 180 crore.
Shettar has allocated Rs 2,343 crore for eight projects, including Rs 75 crore for dialysis and diabetic centres at each Assembly constituency in the city, Rs 25 crore for women’s toilets, Rs 300 crore for residential facilities under Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana, Rs 200 crore for infrastructure facilities to the villages near landfill sites, Rs 300 crore for comprehensive development of arterial and sub arterial roads, Rs 500 crore for grade separators, Rs 863 crore for over bridges and Rs 80 crore for construction of eight lane grade separator from Okalipuram to Khoday circle.
The CM has also allocated Rs 750 crore for various projects approved by the government which were announced in the last budget. ‘Highest Priority for Solid Waste Management’
BBMP Commissioner Siddiah said the allocation for the civic body is sufficient. In the budget, the CM stated that ‘highest priority’ would be accorded to solid waste management in Bangalore and all other urban areas. “Priority will be given for public private partnership and joint development. For this, the State government would provide matching grants for land acquisition and infrastructure,” he said.
As garbage crisis has snowballed into a major crisis in the city, the BBMP has the daunting task of identifying landfills and working with the contractors to manage the waste. As of now, the BBMP’s finances are in a bad shape as revenue collection is
just 50 per cent of what it had expected. In fact, the civic agency is also finding it difficult to
pay its employees on time and bills of the civil contractors bills are not yet paid. According to an official, `1,000 crore is due to contractors.
However, as expected, Opposition Congress is not happy with the allocation in the budget.
M K Gunashekhar, Opposition leader in BBMP, said, “Sadananda Gowda government did not implement most of the projects they had announced in the budget. How can we expect Shettar government to implement any of the programmes announced in the budget?”