BBMP hikes Budget outlay by Rs 575 crore

Bengaluru: The BBMP standing committee on Taxation and Finance, which had claimed it had prepared a realistic budget, has revised and inflated its size by Rs 575.45 crore.

After discussing for four days, the committee conceded to the demands of the corporators and enhanced the outlay to Rs 9,816.49 crore from Rs 9,241 crore. The committee also made changes in the receipts of the BBMP for the year 2017-18. The BBMP took the approval of the council on the revised budget outlay and sent the same to the government for approval.  As per the new outlay Rs 559 crore has been earmarked for special grants to all the wards. The money allocated for the upgradation of graveyards has been slashed to Rs 75 crore from Rs 125 crore.

The BJP staged a protest outside BBMP head office against these changes. The opposition leader in the BBMP council, Padmanabha Reddy, said if the budget disparity was not set right his party would intensify the protest. Independent corporators and MLAs from Congress and JD(S) have got lion’s share of funds and BJP corporators have been ignored. This bias should be rectified, Reddy demanded.