The Hindu 15.02.2014
‘Waste management needed, not more roads’
Though several projects aimed at developing the city’s
infrastructure have been announced, the share of Bruhat Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in the budget is meagre, noted Mayor B.S.
Sathyanarayana.
He told
The Hindu
that the BBMP had been counting on the State government to bail out the
civic body from financial crisis. “We had sought Rs. 5,000 crore from
the government. Projects worth Rs. 2,160 crore have been announced for
the BBMP, but the allocation is only Rs. 1,527 crore,” he said.
Mr.
Sathyanarayana is of the opinion that the city does not need ‘so many
road development projects’. “The need of the hour is scientific solid
waste management and solving the parking problem. While solid waste
management gets only Rs. 100 crore, an allocation of Rs. 10 crore has
been made for implementation of the new parking policy. Allocation to
these areas should be increased,” he said.
Stating
that the BBMP would write to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah urging him to
increase the allocation to the BBMP, he said that Rs. 100 crore has been
allotted for footpath development, but work is possible only if
encroachments are removed. “For this, the government must first issue a
strict order on removal of encroachments and ensure that BBMP gets
police protection for the same.”
Additional revenue
Meanwhile,
BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan said that the BBMP will have to
mobilise around Rs. 633 crore to execute the projects mentioned in the
budget. “This year, we are expecting additional revenue through Akrama
Sakrama and betterment charges. We anticipate these two sources to
generate around Rs. 700 crore,” he said.
