District-in-charge Minister R Ramalinga Reddy too has pushed for presentation of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget in time.
For the last three years, the BBMP has never presented the budget on time.
In 2010 and 2011, it presented the budget in August and last year in July. The ruling BJP was also criticised for presenting an “unrealistic budget.”
This year, due to the delay in mayoral elections, the budget has not been presented yet.
Speaking to Express, Reddy said Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana have sought the state government’s permission to present the budget on July 10.
“I have asked them to discuss it with the Urban Development Department officials. There is a provision to give powers to the Corporation to present the budget,” he said. He added that BBMP has asked `4,000 crore government aid in the state budget.
When asked about the funds the Palike was likely to get in the state budget, Reddy said it was up to the Chief Minister to allot funds.
He, however, said the BBMP should present a realistic budget. “One should check their pockets before presenting the budget,” he advised the city civic agency.
Reddy added that once the budget was presented and sent to the state government, they would approve it within a week.
“There are Lok Sabha elections in May next year and the code of conduct will be enforced in March. This financial year, we have already crossed the first quarter. If the code of conduct is enforced, we get less time to take up development works,” he said.
However, sources in BBMP said that the budget was likely to be presented after the state budget. Lakshminarayana said so far they have not received any communication from the Urban Development Department. “I think the State government will authorise the council to take a decision on presenting the budget,” Reddy said.
Mayor Murthy said it was a unique situation in the Palike’s history.
“Though informally the state government has given its nod to present the budget, we do not know who will present it. There is a need to present the budget. A draft for Rs 5,000 crore budget is ready,” he said.
Congress leader M Gunashekar too said the budget should be presented at the earliest.
“No development works are taking place. The state government is supreme. If they direct BBMP to present budget, there will be no problem in presenting it,” he said.
The BBMP commissioner is likely to submit the draft copy of the budget to the Urban Development Department.