Bengaluru: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday presented its budget 2018-19 with an outlay of Rs 9,326.87 crore. With revenue expenditure of Rs 9,325.53 crore, the budget has a surplus of Rs 1.34 crore. Keeping the forthcoming Assembly elections in mind, a number of sops were announced to woo poor, youth, senior citizens and women.
Where the money comes
Mahadev stated that the Rs 9,326.87 crore includes tax revenue of Rs 2,750.25 crore, non-tax revenue of Rs 2,503.92 crore and government grants of Rs 3,665.31 crore.
The government grants include Rs 306.87 crore from the centre, while the remaining is from the state government. In the 2018-19 fiscal, the property tax estimate is Rs 3,317 crore and advertisement tax is Rs 75 crore.
Under non-tax revenue, the BBMP proposes to collect Rs 300 crore as betterment charges, Rs 60 crore as service charges from central and state government buildings, Rs 90 crore as rents from its markets, Rs 57 crore from trade licences, Rs 200 crore from road cutting for optic fibre cables, Rs 50 crore as mobile tower fee etc.
Where the money goes
The budget proposes to spend Rs 5,125.45 crore on maintenance and development works, which is more than 50% of the budget, and Rs 1,066.88 crore on solid waste management. The total estimated expenditure, including electricity charges, administrative expenses, loan repayment, is Rs 9,325.53 crore.
Reacting to the budget, City Mayor R. Sampath Raj said: “As we go to polls, the budget clearly reflects the aspirations of the citizens. It is a pro-people budget with big focus on social welfare and women safety. Generic medicine stores in all Indira Canteens is a measure that will make the canteens a even bigger hit.”
Padmanabha Reddy, Leader of Opposition in BBMP Council, said the budget had betrayed the aspirations of Bengaluru citizens. “There are no new schemes in the budget; it can’t even be called as old wine in a new bottle. The BBMP has also missed property tax collection target by a huge margin in the current fiscal, which makes claims of improved fiscal health ring hollow.”
However, BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad maintained that the implementation of last year’s budget has been over 76%, the highest in recent years. “Some of the works taken up under the state government funds released last year will see fruition this year. The fiscal health of the BBMP has improved, with no new loans.”
