Yet another delayed and unrealistic budget with an outlay of Rs 8,519.66 crore was presented by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for 2013-14 on Friday.

This despite the Urban Development Department’s direction to Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy to present a realistic one.

As per the budget, the total receipts for 2013-14 is expected to be Rs 8,520.56 crore which includes Rs 3,307.50 crore in tax revenue, Rs 2,290.04 crore in non-tax revenue, Rs 1,732.88 crore from government grants and Rs 1,114.84 crore from miscellaneous receipts. The total expenditure is pegged at Rs 8,519.66 crore, including Rs 2,757.48 crore in revenue expenditure and Rs 5,762.18 crore in capital expenditure. An overall surplus of Rs 90 lakh is expected.

This year, BBMP expects Rs 3,200 crore from property tax. But this seems far from reality. Last year, the BBMP had anticipated Rs 2,000 crore from property tax but ended up collecting only Rs 1,360 crore, including arrears. This year, the BBMP expects to  generate Rs 550 crore from the optical fibre cable policy even though it still hasn’t been approved by the State government.

Through advertisement tax, the BBMP is expecting Rs 107.5 crore even as their own officials claim the receipts will be only half the expectation. Last year, the BBMP had expected to collect Rs 90 crore from trade licences but ended up with only Rs 13.55 crore. This year, they are expecting Rs 25 crore.

The BBMP is also banking hugely on State and Central government grants. A sum of Rs 492.33 crore has been earmarked under the State Finance Commission and Rs 296.56 crore from the 13th Finance Commission, of which Rs 50 crore is for solid waste management and Rs 50 crore for multi-level car parking.

The State government had announced Rs 900 crore under the Nagarottana Yojane and the same was announced by the Mayor in his budget. Under JnNURM grants, the State and Central governments will provide Rs 137 crore. A detailed proposal of Rs 2,128.03 crore has been submitted to the Central government for various JnNURM projects.

• 5 crore to set up 18-ft bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda at BIA Property tax to be collected through 400 bank branches and BangaloreOne centres

• 5 crore for meritorious students from backward classes who are willing to go abroad for higher education

• 3 crore to renovate Town Hall

• 1 crore to distribute books on biographies of imporant personalities

• 50 crore to construct footpaths

• 10 crore to upgrade public toilets Proposal to pay honorarium to outsourced teachers directly from BBMP

• 73.07 crore to maintain parks

• 300 crore towards asphalting of select roads Old Wine in a New Bottle

• Dr B R Ambedkar Housing Scheme has been changed to Jai Bheema Housing scheme, where it is proposed to construct houses for poor SC/ST people

• Last year, 3.75 lakh saplings were proposed to be planted in the name of ‘Saalumarada Thimmakka’. This year, Rs 31 crore has been proposed to plant saplings in the name of N Lakshman Rau, former administrator of Bangalore City Municipal Corporation

• Rs 6 crore allotted to set up blood pressure and sugar testing units in each ward under the name of Jagadish Chandra Bose. This year, the name has been changed to ‘Arogyave Bhagya’

• Last year, Rs 1 crore was announced to install Kittur Rani Chennamma statue’s at the stadium in Jayanagar. The same was announced this year too

• Grade separators at five junctions, including Maramma Circle in Malleswaram, Magadi Road, Basaveshwara Nagar Road junction and Rajajinagar 10th Cross-West of Chord junction, which were announced last year, was announced again on Friday

• Signal-free corridors at Dr Rajkumar Road, Outer Ring Road, Hosur Road, Old Airport Road and Mekhri Circle were announced this year too

• Roads to be developed under TenderSure were announced again. The sum has been doubled to Rs 200 crore

Taking a cue from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy announced schemes for Backward Classes and Dalits in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Budget on Friday. However, he has no specific schemes for minorities.

Murthy, who belongs to the Kuruba (shepherd) community like Siddaramaiah, named all his welfare schemes Kanaka, after their icon Kanakadasa. Again in line with Siddaramaiah’s focus on education for Backward Classes, the BBMP budget announced `5 crore for meritorious students from such communities for higher education in India and abroad. 

An element of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is also present in the Budget. Fifty bicycles will be distributed to milk and newspaper vendors in each ward.

The budget, despite claims by the government, is also delayed and unrealistic. The outlay is Rs 8,519.66 crore, and assures tax collection of Rs 3,307 crore. Last year, the target was Rs 3,200 crore, but yielded just Rs 2,000 crore.

Murthy’s main focus in this Budget is making healthcare facilities affordable and tackling the garbage crisis. Infrastructure projects announced in the budget are all carryovers from last year.

The BBMP has identified 528 slums where ragpickers, pourakarmikas, auto drivers, domestic helps, construction labourers and other urban poor reside for programmes under the National Urban Health Mission. About Rs 20 crore has been allocated for this.

Health workers are to be appointed in all wards and in BBMP’s maternity hospitals. Six referral hospitals will be upgraded with dialysis and modern lab facilities.

The BBMP referral hospital in Hosahalli near Vijaynagar will be upgraded with ICU and NICU units at a cost of Rs 3 crore.

A new laboratory to detect dengue will be set up at the Dasappa Hospital at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.

In the state budget, Siddaramaiah had announced Rs 100 crore grants to the BBMP for solid waste management. “In keeping with the CM’s direction, BBMP has selected 22 wards to make them garbage-free. It is proposed to establish an electricity generation unit at Mavallipura. Bio-methanation plants will be set up at selected places. Dry waste collection centres and segregation units will also be set up,” Murthy said. A sum of Rs 50 crore has been allotted for this.

A sum of `300 crore has been earmarked to asphalt main roads. About Rs 10 crore has been allocated for railway underbridges and overbridges. Arterial and sub-arterial roads get Rs 50 crore, while Rs 20 crore has been earmarked to widen Bannerghatta Road. Apart from this, Rs 20 crore has been allotted to maintain flyovers and bridges, and Rs 10 crore to maintain road humps. The improvement of 200 main junctions gets Rs 30 crore.