There is much clamour among the opposition BJP with regard to the dramatic rise in the Mayor’s Discretionary Grants, which have been increased to ₹345.5 crore, a 185.5% jump from ₹160 crore that was earmarked in last year’s budget.
Apart from ₹160 crore, ₹143.5 crore (under the 14th Finance Commission) and ₹42 crore (under the State Finance Commission) is now under the Mayor’s Discretionary Grants.
The opposition BJP said they will be seeking a decrease in the grants. Opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy maintained that this is perhaps the ‘highest allocation’ to the discretionary grants. “The Mayor’s post is an honourable one, and such a huge allocation gives rise to chances of misuse,” he said.
Former mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana agreed and stated that the Mayor should ideally use the grants for some monumental work that will benefit the city as a whole. “Since such a huge amount of grants is under the discretion of the Mayor, it gives rise to favouritism. The amount has to be equally distributed to all wards,” he said.
Mayor R. Sampath Raj maintained that the grants under his discretion had not been increased. He said that grants under SFC and the 14th Finance Commission will be distributed among all councillors, with the Deputy Mayor, ruling party leader, opposition party leader, JD(S) floor leader and MLA constituencies getting a little more allocation.
