BENGALURU: Financial prudence and realistic estimations of expenditure have been promised for the city as Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials have started preparing the civic budget for 2021-22 in the absence of an elected council.
The highlight this time is the use of a new software to curb unrealistic proposals.
The BBMP budget has time and again been criticised for unscientific outlay and inflated expenditure estimates disproportionate to actual revenue. Recently, civic agency administrator Gaurav Gupta had asked officials to cut the budget size from Rs 10,899 crore to Rs 8,000 crore. But the effort was unsuccessful as officials could hardly prune it by Rs 100 crore since job codes were already issued for works and funds allocated to them could not be taken back.
To avoid such a bizarre state of affairs, the administration has introduced a software, Budget Information and Disbursal System (BIDS), and directed the drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) of all divisions and other authorities to upload their proposals on the portal powered by it.
“The idea is to bring in fiscal discipline. It is mainly to ensure the projected expenditure is matched with actual revenue,” said Thulasi Muddineni, special commissioner (finance). The budget may be presented under the aegis of the administrator since BBMP polls are unlikely before the end of the financial year as the case is pending in the Supreme Court. The government has sought eight months to conduct the elections.
Civil society groups have urged the government to implement the Karnataka Local Funds Authorities Fiscal Responsibility Act-2003 to ensure fiscal responsibility and public participation. “The rules should be notified forthwith so that the Act is applicable to the budget being prepared,” said Srikanth Viswanatha, CEO of Janagraha, which is partnering with BBMP in My City My Budget campaign.