Karnataka budget 2023: Over 100 promises made by CM Bommai in previous budget unfulfilled

Bommai, in his maiden budget as a finance minister, made 391 announcements, of which 52 were policy statements. The 2022-23 Karnataka budget’s size was ₹2.65 lakh crore.

Also read: With sights set on winning voters, Bommai to present interim budget

Unfulfilled promises

Here is a list of at least some of the promises from last year’s budget that remained unfulfilled:

• In the 2022-23 Karnataka budget, the Bommai government announced the upgrading of seven government engineering colleges into Karnataka Institute of Technology (KITs), besides setting up seven model universities in educationally backward areas of the state, agriculture college in Athani of Belagavi district, textile parks in Kalaburagi and Vijayapura, and a Global Emerging Technology Design Centre in Belagavi, among other things. All of these are yet to be fully implemented.
• With a promise of creating 5,000 employment opportunities, the government announced the setting up of textile parks at Navalgund of Dharwad and Ranebennur of Haveri. This hasn’t been done.
• Bommai government had also announced the development of a new airport at an estimated cost of ₹186 crore in Raichur, which is yet to take off.
• For the overall development of Karnataka, the chief minister announced ₹3,000 crore to the Kalyana Karnataka Regional Development Board (KKRDB) in last year’s budget. “The government released ₹1,450 crores out of the allocated funds in the budget till January. The action plan for the remaining funds has been submitted to the government. Of the released funds, we have utilised up to 50 percent,” KKRDB Secretary Anirudh Sravan told South First.
• Stressing the improvement of health infrastructure for people dwelling in urban areas, mainly for labourers and daily wage workers, the government announced in the budget the setting up of 438 “Namma Clinics” in all the wards of Bengaluru City and across the state. The government has succeeded in setting up around 50 percent of such clinics across the state.

Also read: Bommai inaugurates 108 Namma Clinics within BBMP limits

• In order to address women’s health problems, the chief minister declared in the budget the setting up of 300 Women’s Health Centres for counselling on women’s health issues, but this hasn’t been implemented.
• To provide better health facilities to the people of North Karnataka, the government announced a Regional Cardiology Centre at the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology in Hubballi and a Regional Cancer Centre in Belagavi. Both the specialised healthcare centres have not been set up.
• Of the programmes announced for the agriculture sector, the government is yet to launch Raitha Shakthi (diesel subsidy of Rs 250 crore per acre) and “Ksheera Samruddhi Sahakara Bank’ (loan facility to milk producers).
• It also proposed setting up a modern coal storage facility for grape growers in Vijayapura at a cost of ₹35 crore. “Other than the Chief Minister laying the foundation stone for the construction of a cold storage facility, no major development has been witnessed at ground levels. The government has released only Rs 2 crores of the allocated money,” Karnataka Grape Growers Association Vijayapura president Abhaykumar Nandrekar told South First.

Of the total actionable promises announced, the government has issued orders for 207 announcements, and is yet to implement 132 pronouncements.

Govt spent 62% of budgetary allocations

In the current fiscal year, the Bommai government managed to spend only 62 percent of the total budgetary allocations till January 2023.

As per the Avalokana Portal, the total budget allocated for the current fiscal year was ₹2.53 lakh crore. Of the allocated funds, the government expenditure stands at ₹1.58 lakh crore till January 2023 — or about 62.45 percent of the total.

Of the total budget allocation, the government announced grants of ₹22,917.81 crore to the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and ₹9,358.20 to Tribal Sub Plan (TSP).

The government spent only 53.72 percent and 53.79 percent for the SCSP and the TSP, respectively.

The Departments of Energy, Health and Family Welfare, Revenue, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department, Primary and Secondary Education, Higher Education, Water Resources, and Finance, among others, utilised over 50 percent of their total budgetary allocations till January 2023.

Agriculture, Minorities Welfare, Hajj and Wakf, IT and BT, Transport and a few other departments utilised less than half of their budget allocation till January 2023.

‘BJP Govt DNA is 3D: Dupe, Deceive and Divide’

Taking a dig at the Bommai government, AICC general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Randeep Singh Surjewala, who is in charge of the Karnataka Congress, said: “The three following terms define the Bommai government: Broken Promises, Abysmal Governance and Divisive Agenda. This government is a circus of the incompetent and a brand of the corrupt.”

He added: “The illegitimate Bommai government is built on the foundation of defection and corruption has become a curse for the ‘Brand Karnataka’. Integrity, accountability and governance have been publicly hanged by the BJP.”

3 words define Bommai Govt. – “BAD”
(Broken Promises-Abysmal Governance-Divisive Agenda)

Bommai Government = “Circus of the Incompetent” & “Band of the Corrupt”

BJP Govt’s DNA is 3D – ‘Dupe!’, ‘Deceive!’, ‘Divide!’

Our Statement -: pic.twitter.com/aznBu2bYMd

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) February 16, 2023

Criticising the Bommai government for not fulfilling the promises made in the last budget, Surjewala also said: “The ruling BJP government has failed to deliver many promises made in the previous year’s budget. Many programmes like Namma Clinics and Shuchi Scheme have remained on the paper.”

He also said: “The Bommai government also failed to spend even 50 percent of the promised ₹3,000-crore funds for Kalyana Karnataka and has not provided actual funds to Vokkaliga Development Board and Billava Kosha. The BJP is busy looting the public exchequer instead of implementing the programmes announced by themselves in the previous budget.”

Congress leaders sought a reply from the government for failing to utilise the allocated funds and implementing the programmes and schemes announced for various communities in the previous budget.