MCC budget to be presented by end of Feb?

Mysuru: The protracted delay in the presentation of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) budget has led to tensions running high in the MCC Council. While one section of the corporators, particularly those in the JD(S) have been pushing for the presentation of the budget, leading to the mayor announcing that it will be tabled by the end of the month, the BJP members pointed out that presentation of the budget without conducting consultations would be in violation of the provisions of the Karnataka Municipalities and Corporations Act.
MCC commissioner Shilpa Nag said that the advisory committee meeting gad been held, as had all the formalities required to be completed prior to the tabling of the budget. “A date for the presentation of the budget will be finalised once we have consulted the mayor. We think the budget will be presented by the end of the month,” Shilpa told TOI.

Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath said that she had convened a meeting of the advisory committee on Wednesday. “We have already met three to four times. At today’s meeting, many senior members of the panel proffered suggestions on various issues,” said Pushpalatha, confirming that the budget would be tabled before the notification for the Lok Sabha elections was issued.

Former mayor and JD(S) leader MJ Ravikumar expressed regret about the delay in the presentation of the budget. Stating that the JD(S), which was sharing power with the Congress in the council, had given a free hand to the mayor, Ravikumar said, “But we are still hopeful of the budget being presented anytime soon. A number of meetings are being held, and we are happy to see that.”

However, the opposition is none too pleased with the hurried manner in which the entire process is being conducted. Leader of the opposition in the council and BJP corporator BV Manjunath told TOI that the provisions of the KMC Act stipulated that meetings pertaining to the budget start in December. “I had requested the mayor to present the budget well in advance in the very first meeting of the present MCC Council. But they did not heed my words. Now they are planning to present it on February 28. The budget is being prepared in a hurry,” Manjunath said.