The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Opposition hits out at BMP budget

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 25, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Opposition hits out at BMP budget

Staff Reporter

`It has been prepared keeping elections in mind'

BANGALORE: Opposition members in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Council hit out at the budget presented by Lalitha Srinivasa Gowda, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance, on Friday.

At separate press conferences, the Opposition leaders criticised the ruling Congress and said the budget was prepared "keeping the elections in mind."

Opposition Leader in the BMP Council B.R. Nanjundappa said there was a big gap between the projected estimates and the actual income of the BMP.

"The budget does not speak anything about the way the additional money will be generated," he said.

He pointed that funds had been allocated for taking up new works in the flood-affected areas of the city without reserving funds for completion of pending works. Nothing had been said about clearing the dues to contractors, pending for the past nine months.

BJP leader in the BMP Council A.H. Basavaraju said the budget did not touch on the measures to plug leakage in tax collection. Though the budget spoke of new rules on hoardings, there was no mention of how the BMP would collect arrears in advertisement tax.

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