Bengaluru city in-charge Minister gets whopping Rs 250 crore in discretionary grants
BENGALURU:
For the first time in the history of the Bengaluru civic body, BBMP dropped its financial budget in its WhatsApp media group and put the same copy on its official website at 11.25 pm, just a few minutes before the financial year ended on March 31. The whopping Rs 10,484.28 crore budget estimates were presented after obtaining an oral nod from Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday evening.
ಇದನ್ನೂ ಓದಿ: ವಾಟ್ಸಾಪ್ ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ಗ್ರೂಪ್ ಮತ್ತು ಪಾಲಿಕೆ ವೆಬ್ಸೈಟ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿಬಿಎಂಪಿ 10,484 ಕೋಟಿ ಬಜೆಟ್ ಮಂಡನೆ
The budget, which was expected to be presented on March 30, was put on hold after Revenue Minister R Ashoka, who also represents the Padmanabhanagar assembly constituency, expressed his unhappiness at BBMP’s financial wing not contacting him before finalising the budget for financial year 2022-23.
Officers’ choice!
This is the second consecutive budget which is being presented by bureaucrats in the absence of elected representatives in the BBMP. Administrator Rakesh Singh, who is also the Additional Chief Secretary to the Urban Development Department, on Thursday met Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai along with BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta and obtained the CM’s nod for the budget presentation.
Sources said Singh was not interested in presenting the budget to the media and chose to share the budget estimates copy in the WhatsApp group.
As per the estimates, it is claimed that BBMP is expecting Rs 3,576.59 crore in grants for capital works from the state government and Rs 436.01 crore in grants from the Union government. BBMP expects Rs 3,680.15 crore through taxes and cess, while Rs 2,302.23 crore is estimated through non-tax income.
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Discretionary funds
Interestingly, the budget estimates show discretionary grants of Rs 50 crore each under the Mayor and BBMP Chief Commissioner, and Rs 25 crore under the Deputy Mayor and the Taxation and Finance standing committee. This apart, the Bangalore city in-charge Minister gets a whopping Rs 250 crore in discretionary grants.
