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Master plan for Bangalore soon: Siddaramaiah

Friday, 19 July 2013 10:38 administrator
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The New Indian Express                19.07.2013

Master plan for Bangalore soon: Siddaramaiah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the Legislative Assembly in Bangalore on Thursday. | EPS
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the Legislative Assembly in Bangalore on Thursday. | EPS

A master plan is being prepared to check the haphazard growth of Bangalore City and it will be implemented soon, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

Replying to Capt Ganesh Karnik (on behalf of Bhanuprakash) in the Legislative Council on Thursday, the CM said, “A draft copy of the master plan was submitted to the government recently. It was returned for revision after making certain observations.”

“Once the document is ready, objections will be called from the general public. Then, it will be implemented in letter and spirit,” he added.

Siddaramaiah said three Chief Ministers of the previous BJP government — B S Yeddyurappa, D V Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar — should have done it; but they did not.

The Congress government is committed to implementing the master plan. The previous government only came out with a temporary master plan which resulted in several irregularities. Bangalore City has grown hapazardly in the last five years causing various problems to citizens, he noted.

The Chief Minister said the Congress government, which came to power two months ago, has not de-notified any land and it will not do so in the coming days too.

There is a general feeling among the masses that the previous government did a lot of conversion of land.

JD (S) floor Leader M C Nanaiah urged the CM to put the brakes on the construction of hi-rise buildings in Bangalore.

The multi-storeyed apartments being built in the city are the root cause for many problems. The government should enact a Bill to check this trend, he demanded.

Captain Karnik noted that there is confusion among the people due to non-implementation of the full-fledged master plan.

A lot of land conversions have happenings even in the green belt areas.  Since the Chief Minister heads the Angalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA), a master plan should be brought into force to check illegalities in land conversions, he urged.

 

Gift of tricycles from city Corporation

Wednesday, 17 July 2013 05:14 administrator
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The Hindu             17.07.2013

Gift of tricycles from city Corporation

Staff Reporter

The city Corporation on Tuesday distributed 50 motorised tricycles to physically challenged persons as part of its welfare measures.

At a function held here, Minister for Panchayats and Social welfare M.K Muneer handed over keys of the vehicles to the beneficiaries.

Addressing the gathering after distributing the tricycles, he said overall development could be attained only if all sections of society, including differently abled and marginalised sections, become part of the growth process.

Set aside Rs.2 crore

Lauding the efforts of Corporation, he said his Ministry had set aside Rs.2 crore for distributing tricycles and the money was handed over to Kerala State Handicapped Persons Welfare Corporation for the purpose. The Ministry was contemplating associating with civic bodies for identifying the beneficiaries.

Mayor K. Chandrika said the civic body implemented the scheme overcoming hurdles, as it considered providing welfare assistance to the needy as a primary responsibility.

The scheme was conceived during last fiscal but could not be implemented. A sum of Rs.58 lakh was earmarked in last year’s budget and as many as 125 applications were received. Of the applicants, 103 were selected. The vehicles were designed and developed by Keltron.

 

Mayor to present BBMP budget on 20th July

Wednesday, 17 July 2013 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express          17.07.2013

Mayor to present BBMP budget on 20th July

Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy will be creating history of sorts by presenting the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget on July 20, the second in his tenure, months after his term officially ended. In such a situation, normally the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance would present the budget.

A notification issued by the Urban Development under-secretary on Tuesday stated that BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana had written to them on the budget presentation. In his letter, the Commissioner had stated that the mayor’s election was not held and standing committees not constituted. This had delayed the presentation of the budget for 2013-14. Now that three months of the present financial year had passed, the BBMP had been maintaining salaries, pensions and solid waste management expenditure through 30 per cent of votes-on-account.

Further, the notification stated that as per Sections 166-170 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, the Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance had to present the draft budget to the council three weeks prior to the new financial year. Thus, by the end of March, the draft budget had to be presented. The council had to approve the same and send it to the state government for its nod. But, for 2013-14, as there was a writ petition pending before the High Court regarding the mayor’s election, polls for the same had not been conducted.

But as per Section 10(2) of the KMC Act, the mayor and deputy mayor shall hold office for a year or continue till their successors are elected. However, the Act does not specify anything on the mayor conducting the council meeting during this period.

The notification also stated that as three months of the financial year were over, the BBMP does not have any power to spend money allotted for 2013-14. Now that the monsoon has arrived, the BBMP needs to take up works to avoid rain-related damage.

The government has also noticed that the BBMP does not have funds to spend for essential works, including salaries for staff. “The government is considering this as a special and critical situation and has directed the mayor to present a realistic budget based on revenue generation,” the notification stated and asked the mayor to call for a special council meeting.

 
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