The State government has put on hold the BBMP budget for the ongoing financial year, effectively putting the brakes on all related tenders and job codes.
In a note issued to the Urban Development Department (UDD) on Saturday, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has said that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget, which was approved by the previous government in May, did not have the cabinet’s nod, due to which it could be deemed “illegal”.
Yediyurappa’s has asked the officials to place the BBMP budget 2019-20 before the cabinet for approval. This directive is a shocker for the politician-contractor chains that had hoped to make money by undertaking civic works worth crores of rupees across Bengaluru.
He said a new order will be issued after the cabinet discusses and approves the budget, and until then, no job codes should be issued or tenders called for implementation of projects under the budget.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said that BBMP will comply with the Chief Minister’s direction.
The Congress-JDS coalition government had approved an outlay of Rs 11,648.90 for 2019-20, which was Rs 1,308.89 crores reduction in the budget estimates of Rs 12,957.79 crores.
The BBMP Council had passed the earlier outlay in February, but it had come under criticism for being “unrealistic”. While S.P. Hemalatha, chairperson of the Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance, presented a budget with an outlay of Rs 10,688.63 crores on February 18, the council finally passed a budget with an increased outlay of Rs 12,957.79 crores.
The opposition BJP had alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
The BBMP Commissioner had written to the UDD that the civic body would not be able to implement the budget.
According to sources, the coalition partners were upset when the UDD slashed the budget proposal to Rs 9,000 crores, and the government eventually approved an outlay of Rs 11,648.90 crores.
Source: The Hindu