90 crores will solve your infrastructure woes

Govt wakes up to infrastructure woes
The Times of India

Bangalore: After much harping, software conglomerates threatening to move base, various citizen groups staging dharnas by the dozen, the state government has woken up to the call of infrastructure. For, it has delineated a whopping Rs 91.21 crore for special development works in the revised BCC budget.

Almost three months after the BCC had presented its annual budget, it was finally approved by the state government. Though the final amount of the outlay remains almost ditto — Rs 1,571.74 crore in the revised budget versus Rs 1,569.74 crore — discrepancies abound in the ward grants. The difference in amount, on a comparison of the old budget with the newly approved one, has been compensated for as “Special Development Works’’ amounting to Rs 91.21 crore.

For instance, Jayanagar assembly constituency, which has eight wards under its jurisdiction, had been allotted Rs 6 crore for development of parks, street lights, roads and slum improvement. This has been slashed to Rs 4.2 crore. For Gandhinagar assembly constituency, the grant has been slashed from Rs 5 crore to Rs 3.5 crore.

Similarly, for Varthur constituency which has consistently complained of bad roads, the outlay has been cut from Rs 4.5 crore to Rs 3.15 crore. A section called Special Development of Bridges and Culverts for wards numbering 1, 2, 3, 4, 21, 37, 87, 91, 95, 53, 56, among others, has been halved from Rs 14.05 crore to Rs 7 crore.

The good news, however, is that development of roads seems to be paramount. All discrepancies that had crept up in ward/assembly grants has been pooled into Special Development — Road Works.

The Basavanagudi assembly constituency has an allocation of Rs 1.5 crore, development of roads at Jayanagar sees Rs 1.8 crore. Explains a BCC source, “It was felt that roads needed more attention than what was currently being spent. There is actually no major hiccup; if it is perceived that ward grants have been slashed, the same has been pooled in under another banner. That’s all.’’

The ‘good news’ hasn’t trickled down completely yet. Corporators are a peeved lot as they believe that slashing grants in certain wards and constituencies was politically motivated. Says B.M. Mangala, BJP floor leader, “There was blatant discrimination in the old budget regarding various constituencies. The discrimination has crept back in a bigger way.’’

Mayor Narayanaswamy, who with the consensus of the council, had the BCC budget approved, on Monday said, “I have not yet seen the new budget book.’’

PROTESTS PAY OFF; RS 91 CR ALLOTTED
The difference in amounts between the two budgets has been compensated under ‘Special Development Works’ amounting to Rs 91.21 cr. JAYANAGAR: Grants slashed from Rs 6 cr to Rs 4.2 cr. For Gandhinagar, grants have been slashed from Rs 5 cr to Rs 3.2 cr. GOOD TIDINGS: An allocation of Rs 1.5 cr for Basavanagudi and Rs 1.8 cr for Jayanagar for road development. Peeved corporators claim the slash in grants is politically motivated.