BMP budget
Thanks to RTI, proactive disclosure etc, we see more and more material being put up on the new BMP (Bangalore Mahanagar Palike or City Corporation) website.
Did anyone take a look at the 2006-2007 budget details available there? I don’t have much background on what many of those headings mean, but going by the general text of details available, I found somethings interesting. Like (rounded off numbers, from 2005-2006 budget):
1) Our city planned to get 6 crores for developmental works from local MPs and MLAs. But it got nothing!
2) Bangalore expected to spend Rs 44 crore on CDP, spent less than half of that, 17 crores. 271 lakhs were set aside for “Town planning”, whereas only 41 got spent. Perhaps the numbers say Bangalore doesn’t like planning :).
3) Budgeted estimate for “Infrastructure” was 91 crores, revised estimate was a lot less, 54 cr. Look at the details of payments under this heading, you will find all those flyovers, underpasses and subways that got some allocations (famous promises?) but so few of them actually saw any action.
Underspending may be a result of shortage of funds. But anyways. Read the budget details, “Receipts” as well as “Payments” and make conclusions of your own. Makes a good read if you like following your city’s fortunes.
Hmmm…. I like the use of the word,”PERHAPS..”
in your second point, last sentence. Considering the sad state of the roads and traffic, ‘perhaps’ is, I guess a good choice.
Mysore, I said perhaps because lack of funds may have made them cut somewhere. And as we know, things that dont ‘seem’ urgent get cut out first.
BTW, the roads are not in that sad state, traffic is – basically saying that planning is a bigger problem than execution.