The Hindu 07.03.2013
Mayor eyeing credit for presenting two budgets
Venkatesh Murthy says efforts on to present it by month-end.
Efforts are being made to present the Bruhat Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget by the end of this month, Mayor D.
Venkatesh Murthy has said.
Speaking to mediapersons
here on Wednesday, he said that the Commissioner’s budget draft had been
sent to the Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance. He had
directed committee chairperson K.A. Muneendra Kumar to begin the budget
preparations.
“We want to present the budget before
the code of conduct comes into force ahead of the Assembly polls,” he
said. If there is a delay, the budget can be presented only after the
Assembly elections and election of the new Mayor, Deputy Mayor and
members of the 11 Standing Committees.
Mr. Murthy
said he would discuss the issue with the BJP leadership. Stating that
there was no rule that prevented one Mayor from presenting two budgets,
he said efforts were being made to present the budget soon. “We are
ready to cross the hurdles that will be put by certain persons with
vested interests who think we will take the credit politically for
presenting two budgets.”
However, a senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, told
The Hindu
that the ruling party (BJP) had unanimously decided to present the
budget only after the Assembly polls. “But before that, efforts are on
to choose the next Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Following that, all efforts
will be made to win the Assembly elections.”
Opposition
parties are up in arms over the delay and the violation of the
Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. According to the KMC Act,
the civic body is bound to complete the entire budget procedure and
submit the council-approved budget to the government by the first week
of March. The government is obligated to approve the budget before the
beginning of the new financial year.
Realistic budget
Mr.
Murthy claimed that the 2013-14 budget would be “realistic”. This could
be a reality this year, since the Union Budget and State Budget for
2013-14 had been presented. “We will try to reduce the outlay. The
outlay of the draft budget that has been sent to the Standing Committee
is approximately Rs. 5,000 crore. We have pending works, including
programme of works, worth around Rs. 2,000 crore. Efforts will be made
to reduce the outlay from Rs. 10,000 crore to around Rs. 7,000 crore,”
he added.
He said that the draft budget would be bare
and devoid of any welfare, development programmes. “The outlay will
obviously increase once the ruling party includes development programmes
and welfare schemes. This will be done after consulting the party
leadership. There cannot be a budget without these,” he added.