The budget also lacks solution proposals for real issues like water crisis, illegal constructions, waste management, and traffic, they said.
BBMP's budget presentation on Thursday
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget is vague and unclear — and would do well to under-promise and over-deliver than indulge in grandstanding, activists and experts have said.
While there are many projects like the Skydeck, captive solar parks, and tunnels being proposed, there are no specific allocations mentioned in the budget for them, they noted.
And there are no solution proposals for the real issues including the water crisis, illegal constructions, solid waste management, deterioration of our lakes and green cover, and traffic congestion, they added.
BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance) Shivanand H Kalakeri presented on Thursday, 29 February, the ₹12,369.46-crore BBMP budget for Bengaluru.
He was accompanied in the presentation by BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath and Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development Department) Rakesh Singh.
In it, they highlighted a vision to further enhance “Brand Bengaluru” in terms of cleanliness, greenery, health, education, and technology, as well as turning Bengaluru into an overall vibrant metropolitan city.
In brief, the highlights of the budget were:
The other highlights of the budget are:
Vivek Menon, an urban expert and a former member of the Chief Minister’s Vision Group as well as the Center for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation & Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), told South First that when it came to the BBMP, the difference between a budget and the ground reality was often the slip between the cup and the lip.
“If the budget were to be taken at face value, two things stand out. The first is the promise of Brand Bengaluru and the second is the Bengaluru City Comprehensive Mobility Plan (BCCMP),” he noted.
“The bane of our beautiful city has been traffic and the constant erosion of confidence in Brand Bengaluru as the gleaming IT and Garden City. While the BBMP takes most of the blame, other perpetrators include the orchestra of parastatals,” Vivek Menon told South First.
If the BBMP’s planned outlay of close to ₹12,500 crore needed to be met, many things would have to fall into place on the revenue side, noted Menon.
He explained that this was where the agency had fallen woefully short of collecting property taxes, which form the bulk of its cash flow.
“The state government has its own challenges and may not be too generous with finances. That leaves these tall promises as nothing but a pipe dream,” he warned.
“The BBMP’s past performance on many measures leaves much to be desired, so one should be cautiously optimistic about what has been presented,” Menon explained.
“The BBMP would do well to under-promise and over-deliver rather than indulge in grandstanding. While there are many projects like the Skydeck, captive solar parks, and tunnels being proposed, there are no allocations for them,” he said.
“The real issues include the water crisis, illegal constructions, solid waste management, a deterioration of our lakes and green cover, and traffic congestion due to the lack of coordination between parastatals,” added Menon.
“On the revenue side, property tax collection continues to plague the agency and the premium FAR that has been mooted could lead to a greater stress on our already crumbling infrastructure. Back to basics should be the BBMP’s mantra,” he said.
Civic activist Vinay Sreenivas explained to South First that the budget was vague and unclear, and did not look into the needs and essentials for its citizens.
“They have given money for the tunnel road again. We don’t know why ₹200 crore has been given for this project. There has been no environmental clearance. We don’t know why this project is coming. We do not know the cost analysis benefit, and nothing is clear. Yet, ₹200 crore is allocated for this, which is actually a waste,” Sreenivas told South First.
“They (BBMP) are also laying this road on the buffer zone of a rajakaluve (water resource), which is not environmentally friendly. They are also going to put up a cycle track there and that is the only cycle track mentioned in the budget, but making cycle tracks like these on the buffer zone of a rajakaluve will not be helpful. Ideally, there should be more trees in the buffer zones. Also, why would one build a road in the buffer zone of a rajakaluve? It is not very clear,” he noted.
“Bus stops are also the responsibility of the BBMP. But nothing has been allocated for bus stops in the budget. There are so many bus stops without shelters in the city. Still, not a rupee has been allotted for that,” he pointed out.
“And the biggest chunk of money is going for the white-topping, and nothing to support bus stops, nothing to support pedestrians or cyclists, which is not good,” explained Sreenivas.
The budget said the BBMP was going to set up a training centre and a library for its staff, which was a good thing, “and we welcome it”, he said.
“However, in terms of the street vendors, they said that they would do a survey, which is good. They have to do the survey, which we have been demanding for a long time now, but we had urged that the BBMP conduct the survey on its own and not through any PPP model,” said Sreenivas.
“Two things are unclear in the budget. One: They have not stated whether the survey would be carried out by them (BBMP) or in the PPP model. Secondly, there is no money allocated in the budget, and they have only just announced it,” he noted.
The BBMP has also said that it would give ₹5 crore for e-rickshaws for street vendors, especially for the evicted or dislocated ones.
“We know that the BBMP has not even got a list of the street vendors that were evicted or dislocated. On what basis will these vendors be traced and e-rickshaws be given to them?” asked Sreenivas
“We do not know why the BBMP is giving e-rickshaws, and there are many questions around it. What are these e-rickshaws? Where will they stand and do business? What about the traffic regulations for them? Will these vehicles be suitable for street vending, and what are the implications of these vehicles according to the Indian Motor Vehicle Act?” he demanded to know.
“Street vendors had asked for umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun and the rain. Meanwhile, no specific public toilets or godown spaces for street vendors have been mentioned in the budget. Basic facilities that they sought are not being provided, and things like e-rickshaws — which they had not asked for — are being promised,” he noted.
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