Budget may be more meetha than khatta

BANGALORE: The much-delayed BBMP budget is likely to be bring cheer to senior citizens, women and green lovers. The budget, likely to be presented this month, will have an outlay of Rs 7,500 crore and incorporate certain citizen-friendly initiatives.

Geriatric patients with diabetics can walk into any BBMP hospital and get their sugar level test done free of cost. Scanning will be done in BBMP hospitals for expectant mothers from now on. So far in most BBMP’s maternity homes, there was no scanning facility which forced patients to go to Vani Vilas and Victoria hospitals.

Tax and finance standing committee chairman P M Sadashiva told TOI that the budget would incorporate certain aspects of public life that had been shunned so far.

At present, only two BBMP hospitals have scanning machines and there is dearth of technicians. “With this move, we will be recruiting technicians,” Sadashiva said.

Modern dhobi ghats

BBMP has plans to set up modernized dhobi ghats in Madiwala Machaiah quarters, Sunkenahalli, Rajajinagar, Dasarahalli, Mahalakshmi Layout areas where the traditional dhobi communities are operating from. The modern version will have boilers, rainwater harvesting facility, water recycling plant. Each unit is estimated to cost about Rs 2 crore.

“The washermen who constitute 5-6 lakh of city’s population live in unhealthy conditions. They have health problems due to constant usage of water, detergents and other chemicals. The budget will address these issues,” said Manjunath Raju, member, T&F standing committee.

Students to get woollen sweaters

Another proposal is to distribute woollen sweaters to students studying in BBMP schools. “Keeping in mind the cold weather, we have realized that children require sweaters. All children studying in BBMP schools will be given sweaters,” Sadashiva said.

142 green hubs to be made tree parks

Having realized that maintenance of lawns, ornamental plants in BBMP parks is expensive, the budget making committee has thought of setting up 142 tree parks in the city which have native flora. The plants species will be of those native varieties which will give the walkers the feel of old Bangalore, say the budget makers.

Global tender cancelled

To protect the interest of local players, BBMP has decided not to go in for global tenders for solid waste management. Instead one or two wards would be clubbed and one contractor would be entrusted with solid waste management in the clubbed wards,” sources said.