The New Indian Express 08.09.2010
BBMP budget’s fate to be decided Thursday
BANGALORE: The fate of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP’s) budget will be decided on Thursday.Discussion on the budget concluded on Tuesday after three days of deliberation.
Many councillors made various suggestions to include in the budget. They requested the Mayor to provide more grants to the wards as most of the wards were newly added to the Palike and were underdeveloped.
They complained that the fund allocation to wards was not uniform and this would lead to imbalanced development in the city.
Govindraj of Jnana Bharati ward said the current efforts to curb the spread of mosquitoes and related diseases were inadequate even though the budget announced `4 crore to contain the same. At this point, Heganahalli councillor Govindegowda said he had dengue fever. He said he had to go through troubles to contain his condition and added that the common man had to go through worse.
Also, he complained that despite assurances of the BWSSB chairman regarding digging of borewells, no action was taken.
Gangenahalli councillor M Nagaraj said there should be more stress on improvement of quality of education and infrastructure in BBMP schools. He also suggested re-numbering of the properties in the city to avoid the discrepancy in census and voters lists. He pointed out that a skywalk should be built near Mekhri Circle and Windsor Square as the vehicle density is more than two lakh per day. Jayamahal Corporator Gunashekar seconded the opinion.
Ashwath of Kempe Gowda ward suggested that the 300 acre-lake in Yelahanka be revived so that there is ground water recharge and the place could serve as a tourist spot for people accessing the airport.
Other councillors raised issues about lack of schools and hospitals in their wards, under ground drainage system, lack of parks and basic facilities.
