BBMP budget: Rules thrown to winds

NT Correspondent

In an unprecedented development, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) quietly uploaded the budget for 2022-23 fiscal on its website, late on Thursday night without any prior notice, or debate.

Even without an official Mayor in the house, the BBMP has managed to release its annual budget barely an hour before the last day of the 2021-22 fiscal year (March 31) ended.

As per Section 196 of the BBMP Act, the local body’s budget is supposed to be announced at least three weeks prior to the start of the next fiscal year. Accordingly, the Budget should ideally have been presented within March 10.

The Budget for the year 2022-23 has a total outlay of Rs 10,484.28 crore, with a surplus of Rs 334.63 crore. While the revenue has been estimated at Rs 10,478.7 crore, the estimated expenditure is Rs 10,480.45 crore. The BBMP hopes to collect R s 3 , 6 8 0 crore from property tax and cess, which is a major source of revenue for the corporation.

The move to announce the budget at the last minute and that too sneakily uploading it on the website has raised many eyebrows. Questions are also raised over the delayed local poll.

However, it is also claimed that the month-long budget session by the state government had delayed the Bengaluru city budget presentation by 20 days. There was also a delay because of resistance from a few ministers living in the city, on the tax collection model.

• Around 35% of the estimated receipts (Rs 3,680 crore) is tax revenue, 22% (Rs 2,302.23 crore) is non-tax revenue, 4% (Rs 436.01 crore) Union Government grants, 34% (Rs 3,576.59 crore) State Government grants, 5% (Rs 489.3 crore) is miscellaneous.
• According to estimates: 46% of the expenditure (Rs 4,838.26 crore) is for public works, 30% (Rs 3,148.12 crore) has been allocated to maintenance, 12% (Rs 1,234.72 crore) is for personnel expenses.
• Proposed to distribute 12,000 sewing machines to women for self-employment. Also 54,000 new street lights to be installed and 44 new night shelters to be established.
• E-Aasthi property database to be created for entire BBMP with 43 fields to data for each property
• Property profiling to be created by integrating the databases of Bescom, BWSSB & Trade Licenses
• 37 new PHCs to be strengthened & regularized
• 243 Namma clinics to be supported through BBMP Funds
• 34 new parks to be developed
• Two new crematoriums to be built
• Comprehensive tenders for Cleaning and Transportation Solid Waste – 3,600 new 4 wheel CNG/Electric Vehicles to be inducted
• Two new landfill sites to be established
• Waste to Energy SWM plant in Bidadi to be commissioned in 6 months
• 225 Suvidha Cabins for Poura-Karmikas to be established
• Food supply to Indira Canteen to be handed over to ISKCON