BENGALURU: Karnataka hopes to get its due share of funds for infrastructure and healthcare as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and has made a sizeable allocation for these priority sectors in the Union Budget.
Major cities of Karnataka will be the beneficiaries of the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) that envisages universal water supply through 2.4 crore household tap connections in 4,378 urban local bodies. The scheme will also include liquid waste management in 500 cities identified for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transfor mation (AMRUT).
The Centre plans to implement the scheme in five years with an allocation of Rs 2.8 lakh crore.
Twenty-seven cities, including Bengaluru, Dharwad, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi and Tumakuru, have been identified as AMRUT cities and about 70 lakh people, especially those living in urban slums, are expected to benefit from the programme.
Bengaluru has received a special boost in the form of Rs 14,778 crore funding for two arches of Metro Phase II covering 58 km. The announcement on the 278-km Bengaluru-Chennai highway, whose construction will begin in 2021-22, has lifted spirits in the industrial sector.
But the Budget has not directly answered Karnataka’s plea to declare Upper Krishna Phase III irrigation scheme and Yettinahole drinking scheme as national projects. The request was high on Karnataka’s Budget wish list. The national status would have led to greater funding from the Centre — 90 per cent of the total project cost.
“The Budget has made sectoral allocations for irrigation and we hope the Centre will announce the two projects as national ones when it finalises the details,” said water resources minister Ramesh Jarkiholi.
Despite being one of the highest tax contributors to the central coffers, Karnataka has seen a significant amount of revenue loss because of tax devolution.
“Our budget is dependent on how much the Centre gives to the state,” said a senior government official. Karnataka, the official added, needs capital to fund its schemes and it has raised the issue of revenue losses with the Centre. Chief minister BS Yediyurappa has indicated that the size of the state budget might shrink as a result of Covid-19 and reduction in central funds.