Flyovers in the air again

Flyovers in the air again
BMP To Ban Hoardings, Continue With SAS
The Times of India

Bangalore: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike budget for 2006-2007 presented on Friday is rather ‘promising’: all it has is promises galore!

For the infrastructure-starved Bangalorean, it offers 15 new flyovers/grade separators at Rs 300 crore. Not at places where they are necessary or feasible. But wherever the BMP whims them! But then, they may not even come up. Remember, the 13 flyovers announced in last year’s budget still lying on paper?

If flyovers take a flying leap, can potholed roads be far behind? Roads alone get a whopping Rs 287.14 crore. And infrastructure including ROBs (roadover-bridges) and RUBs (railwayunder-bridges) add up to Rs 660 crore.
Not enough? Well, we have more: Desilting of storm water drains gets Rs 84 crore — a verbatim repeat of last year’s budget. But alas! Last year’s work was a half-done damage control.

If projects are ‘lifts’ from last year, there is even a ‘re-introduced’ scheme. The scrapped pay-and-park scheme is back from April 1, said BMP commissioner K Jothiramalingam, with a breather: Modalities and roads are yet to be decided.

Still, this year does have a shining first for the BMP: Lalitha Srinivasa Gowda, chairperson, taxation and finance committee, became the first woman to present a budget — a whopping Rs 1,870.83 crore budget, Rs 300 crore more than last year’s.

Her gift to the tax payer: She has continued the existing SAS (selfassessment scheme) for property tax collection instead of the more costly CVS. But as alw ay s, there is a rider: A 20 per cent increase in the annual rental value of commercial properties. But smile. For, no infrastructure cess!

The ‘global’ BMP has taken a cue from New Delhi and “other Western countries’’ as the taxation and finance committee puts it: They have decided to ban hoardings across the city.

“This is to save the aesthetics of the city,’’ said Lalitha. Existing hoardings will have six months for removal or change to electronic displays.

The PPP has a setback: “I propose to discontinue the existing scheme of awarding road medians to private agencies on advertisement basis,’’ declared Lalitha. The cholera outbreak has a look in: The health department has been given Rs 59.2 crore, that includes mechanised and night sweeping.

Leap year
* 15 new flyovers/grade separators across the city. For three consecutive years, 11 flyovers/underpasses have been repeating in the budget books.
* Rs 2 crore to get rid of potholes!
* Renovation of commercial complexes on joint venture basis and remodelling of markets gathering dust for five years now. This year, Markets department gets an allocation of Rs 22 crore, for the same projects!

Some pluses
* Hoarding-free city mantra for 2006-07; BMP to allow only electronic and digital displays for advertisements.
* Mid-day meals for school children at Rs 3.89 crore.
* Mobile school at Rs 10 lakh.
* Ten new citizen service centres.

Penalty corner
BMP hopes to rake in Rs 10 crore from building deviations penalties in city limits alone.