Bengaluru: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget for the year 2017-18 was presented on Saturday with a total budget outlay of Rs 9241.04 crore. With no scope for levying new taxes, the budget of the city’s civic body is largely dependent on state (Rs3891.36 crore) and Central government (Rs 358.46 crore) grants. The budget outlay is Rs 246 crore more than the previous year budget (Rs 8994.41 crore).
The budget was presented by M K Gunasekhar, chairman, standing committee on taxation and finance, has no major plans for the improvement of infrastructure in the city. The BBMP is expected a revenue of Rs 9243.41 crore. “We expect to collect property tax of Rs 2600 crore, cess of Rs 624 crore, improvement charges of Rs 140 crore, penalty of Rs 175 crore, SWM cess of Rs 50 crore, service charges of Rs 65 crore collected from Central Government buildings. The total amount of Rs 3726.25 crore revenue is expected during the year 2017-18,’’ Gunasekhar said.
To enrich greenery of the city, the BBMP budget proposes to develop parks in the city. “We have decided to implement the Dr Yellappa Reddy report with regard to conservation of plants and environmental protection. Development of 210 parks will be taken up in the newly added zones at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crore. Rainwater harvesting will be implemented at all BBMP parks. An amount of Rsw 146.34 crore is earmarked in this budget, this is the highest allocation compared to the previous years for horticulture,’’ Gunasekhar said.
The BBMP proposes to plant 10 lakh saplings in the current year under the citizen partnership programme. “A total of Rs 37.90 crore is earmarked for urban forestry and environment department during this year,’’ the chairman of standing committee on taxation and finance said.
The BBMP budget proposes to have animal incinerators in all the eight zones and an amount of Rs 2 crore has been allocated for this purpose. “Animal birth control programme for street dogs will be taken up at a cost of Rs 3 crore,’’ he said.
The budget also proposes to have health insurance facility to the BBMP school and college students at an estimated cost of Rs 1.75 crore “Rs 2 crore has been allocated to provide CET coaching and computer training to PUC students,’’ he said.
The budget has reserved Rs 751.70 crore for effective management of garbage disposal in the city.
