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Financial Management

Palike budget: It's status quo on property tax, trade licence

Saturday, 27 July 2013 07:27 administrator
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Deccan Herald           27.07.2013

Palike budget: It's status quo on property tax, trade licence

Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy on Friday presented an inflated budget for the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), with an outlay of Rs 8,520.56 crore.

The budget, while putting the anticipated receipts at Rs 8520.56 crore and expenditure at Rs 8519.66 crore, appears to be pinning high hopes on revenue sources, which have failed to deliver in the past. However, the outlay of the budget is Rs 1,400 crore less than that for the previous financial year.

The mayor was firm that the geographical information system based property identification (PId) would fetch the BBMP Rs 3,200 crore. This assertion is despite the fact that the BBMP could earn about Rs 1,250 crore last year.

To achieve the target, the Palike would verify the declaration of the owners of commercial buildings, complexes, malls and huge office spaces under the self assessment scheme. The local body will take the assistance of civil engineering students from Bangalore University for this task. The good news is that there is no proposal of any revision in property tax, advertisement tax and trade licence fee to mop up funds.

For the convenience of property owners, Palike has made a provision in the budget to allow property tax collection in many other banks in Bangalore besides IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank, Indusind Bank and Axis Bank.

The budget largely remains dependent on various State and Central government funds amounting to Rs 1732.88 crore. It also hopes to garner Rs 550 crore from optical fibre cables once the matter is cleared by the Karnataka High Court. Apart from this, the budget expects Rs 107.5 crore from advertisements and penalties under the Disfigurement of Public Places and Environment Act and Rs 25 crore from trade licences.  Mayor said stress has been laid on the present financial condition of the Palike and it has been decided to take up only essential development works. He announced that the BBMP Council will discuss budget on Monday.

Opposition decries

The leader of the Opposition in the Palike Council, M K Gunashekar (Congress), dubbed the budget  ‘Yet another bogus and spillover budget.’
He said the Mayor did not make any remarkable announcement but carried forward most of the old schemes.

“A wonderful opportunity was given by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to present a realistic budget, which the mayor has lost. I will apprise the chief minister about the shortcomings in this inflated budget, asking the BBMP to take corrective measures,” Gunashekar said.

Congress corporators sported black ribbon as a mark of protest against the delay and
‘inflated’ budget. The proceedings of the Council was disrupted for a while when the Congress corporators trooped into the Well of the House raising slogans against the BJP. Some corporators from RajarajeshwariNagar Assembly constituency staged a dharna till the mayor finished his budget speech.

“ There is no difference between the budgets of this year and last year. I do not find anyinteresting proposals thisa time. For past three years, the Palike is announcing signal-free corridors and road improvement works. But, none of them has been implemented,” said JD(S) Floor leader, T Thimme Gowda.

Infra projects

  • Rs 50 cr for construction of footpaths
  • Rs 28 crore for steel bridge at Shivananda Circle
  • Rs 15 crore for underbridge at Magadi Road
  • Rs 29 crore for grade separator on Rajajinagar Chord Road and Vatal Nagaraj Road
  • Rs 25 crore for Road divider at Malleswaram Maramma Circle and Rajajinagar
  • Rs 20 crore for widening Bannerghatta RoadRs 30 crore for improvement of 200 main junctions
  • Rs 350 crore under JnNURM for diverting drainage path in Mahadevapura
 

BBMP budget glosses over city’s problems

Saturday, 27 July 2013 04:17 administrator
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The Hindu             27.07.2013

BBMP budget glosses over city’s problems


The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) budget for 2013-14 with an outlay of Rs. 8,250.56 crore, presented on Friday, does not seem to offer any real solutions to solve the city’s multiple problems.

Burning issues such as traffic congestion, poor road quality and solid waste management get a mere nod in the budget presented by Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy. Most projects such as signal-free corridors, grade separators, junction improvements and elevated corridors mentioned are just a repeat appearance. The budget has proposed to bring back paid parking and a policy is being framed in this direction by the BBMP, in consultation with the Directorate of Urban Land Transport.

The opposition parties flayed the budget, whose outlay is smaller than the previous three years’ (see Page 2), saying it “lacked vision” and failed to address the city’s rising infrastructure problems.

However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the BBMP council maintained that it gives impetus to infrastructure, solid waste management, health and welfare schemes. The budget appeared to be banking on Rs. 1,732 crore in government grants to fund various development projects.

JNNURM projects

Various projects, including road-related works and underground drainage systems, entailing Rs. 2,128.03 crore have been proposed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Transitional Phase. Some of the projects proposed include eight-lane corridor at Okalipuram junction, elevated road from Minerva Circle to Hudson Circle, skywalks at Hudson Circle and Mysore Bank Circle.

Taking into cognisance the poor quality of roads, Rs. 300 crore has been set aside for asphalting selected roads in the city. That apart, Rs. 50 crore has been reserved for arterial and sub-arterial roads. The BBMP has earmarked Rs. 30 crore for 200 main junctions.

The BBMP appeared to be confident in collecting Rs. 3,200 crore in property taxes this year, compared to the Rs. 1,200 crore last fiscal. It proposed to enlist civil engineering students of Bangalore University to take up verification of commercial buildings. Simplifying the tax payment process, the BBMP has tied up with banks to make it easier for citizens to pay tax.

Opposition councillors pointed out that the BBMP has a success rate of less than 50 per cent of proposals in previous budgets. For instance, its 2012-13 budget outlay was Rs. 9,937 crore but the total receipts added up to only Rs. 4,689 crore. With just eight months left in the current fiscal, the councillors said this time too it would be no different.

Mayor Murthy insisted it was a “realistic” budget, prepared keeping in mind the BBMP’s precarious financial health. The budget discussions have been scheduled on Monday and Tuesday, following which it would be sent to the government for approval.

 

Three months on, mayor okays budget

Friday, 12 July 2013 12:13 administrator
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The Times of India             12.07.2013 

Three months on, mayor okays budget

AURANGABAD: After a long wait of more than three months, mayor Kala Oza on Thursday approved the civic budget of Rs 901.17 crore for the cash-strapped Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for 2013-14.

She submitted the budget to officiating municipal commissioner Gokul Maware.

The budget for the current fiscal was pending for approval with the mayor since it was passed by the standing committee in March 2013.

The civic administration had submitted a draft budget of Rs 596 crore to the standing committee on March 19. The panel increased the budget to Rs 700 crore before presenting it at the general body meeting in the end of March. However, Oza had put the budget on hold for more than three months.

For 2012-13, the municipal body had proposed a budget of Rs 786.14 crore but it could not meet the revenue generation target. The AMC was expecting to generate Rs 230 crore through local body tax, but it could only collect only Rs 180 crore. Apart from this, last year's property tax collection Rs 74 crore has also failed to achieve the target of Rs 100 crore. This under recovery led to fiscal deficit of more than 250 crore.

 
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