The budget continues to sound like a laundry list. It gives you figures of amounts allocated, revised or spent. It doesn’t tell you whether the allocations, for instance for food security, health, education, have increased or decreased, as a percentage of the budget or GSDP, when compared to previous years. They also don’t tell you what the outcomes were in qualitative terms as a result of the expenditure. Only such an analysis will tell us whether we are on our way to meet the sustainable development goals that the country has committed to achieve.
In the proposed budgets for Bengaluru, one can only decipher how much is being spent on physical infrastructure for roads, signal-free corridors, underpasses and road-under-bridges. And this amount is huge at more than Rs 7,000 crore allocated over the last two years and more than Rs 2,000 crore allocated. But there is no way that one can make out how much is being spent in Bengaluru on social infrastructure for anganwadis, schools, hospitals and slum upgradation as these come under the consolidated budgets of the line departments of the state government and no Bengaluru-specific break-up of these is available.
It is gratifying that an almost equal amount of Rs 7,000 crore is being spent on providing water and sewerage connections, setting up STPs and rejuvenating lakes which will contribute to the ecological sustainability of Bengaluru. But nothing has been said about how flooding in Bengaluru will be mitigated by taking up clearance of rajakaluves, work on which was stopped after coming across encroachments by certain VIPs on rajakaluves. Also, Phase-V of Cauvery project and Yettinahole projects are being proposed at more than Rs 5,500 crore while nothing has been mentioned about creating more rainwater harvesting structures and supply of lake or recycled water to make Bengaluru more self-sufficient in its water supply.
No funds have been earmarked for garbage collection and processing infrastructure in Bengaluru. So how will we get money to procure land for setting up local processing plants in all 198 wards as ordered by the High Court? Will we continue to see the mountains of historic garbage?
Rs 267 crore for Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Pradhikara at Sangoli and Nandagada
Rs 200 cr for development of Christian community
Rs 80 cr for development of Jain and Sikh communities
Rs 15 crore for start-up loan facility for minority women
Rs 15 crore for modernisation of Madrasas - infrastructure improvement and formal education
Rs 30 cr to Minority Development Corporation for loan/subsidy to mechanics, carpenters, vendors
Rs 20 crore for silver jubilee of Karnataka State Wakf Council
Kathyayini Chamaraj,Executive Trustee of CIVIC Bangalore