The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council witnessed yet another heated exchange between councillors of the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (S) combine and the opposition BJP on the ‘disparity in allocation’. This unfolded on Friday during discussions on the 2019-20 budget that was presented on February 18 by S.P. Hemalatha, Chairperson of the Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance.
Jayamahal councillor M.K. Gunashekar pointed out that allocations for wards represented by women had been increased. To this, a few women councillors from the BJP took objection and claimed that there was much disparity in allocations.
Though Ruling Party Leader Adbul Wajid and a few other Congress councillors raised objections, opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy claimed that while allocation for the 101 BJP councillors was a mere ₹311.6 crore, the 75 Congress councillors have received a total of ₹794.95 crore. He also charged that 15 JD(S) councillors have received an allocation of ₹409.8 crore while the six independent councillors have been given ₹62 crore.
To this, Mr. Gunashekar said that there is precedence to councillors of the ruling party in the council getting higher allocation.
He also argued that it is the right of the civic body to seek funds from the State government given that sources of revenue, such as octroi, have been plugged. In such a situation, the BBMP had no choice but to seek funds from the government to provide civic amenities in the growing city.
The city alone contributed more than ₹60,000 crore to the State exchequer by way of various taxes. He also stated that at least 25% of the GST collected should come to the BBMP and said a delegation would try to convince the Chief Minister about the same.