BBMP received no government funds in the April-June period

BENGALURU: The Assembly elections are a few months away and the feverish pitch with which BBMP is “developing“ Bengaluru with a spate of road works is raising eyebrows. This has also led to the question whether BBMP is stretching a bit too far as bulk of its funds have to come from the government.

The recent Janaagraha's Budget Performance Report of the BBMP's budget 2017-18 shows that during the first quarter, the BBMP got just Rs 596 crore as against the estimated Rs 3,891 crore from the government. BBMP officials, however, are confident of getting the rest soon based on the performance of the ongoing projects.

Even as the BBMP's reliance on the government has grown manifold over the past few years, it has not received the full amount from the government, except for one year. In fact this year, BBMP had estimated Rs 2,031 crore as government's contribution for special infrastructure projects, but not a penny came in the April June period.

Sapna Karim, coordinator of Civic Participation at Janaagraha, said the government grants to BBMP come in dribs and drabs. “We are already done with the first half of the year, but the civic body has not got even 30% of the budgeted amount,“ she said.

When funding is critical for BBMP to deliver, she said the growing dependence on the grants is hampering projects. “It will be better for the BBMP to strengthen its own revenue streams and lessen its reliance on outside grants,“ Karim said.

The BBMP authorities believe, with the existing tax collection system, it is not possible for the civic body to be self-reliant. “With the limited income that the BBMP earns through property tax, building licence fee, OFC fee etc, and the kind of expenditure that we make on infrastructure, it is not possible for the BBMP not be financially independent. The city's growth reflects on taxes like road tax, income tax, service tax, sales tax, GST etc, all of which do not come to the BBMP's coffer. Perhaps, a tax system like Octroi will help,“ said BBMP's special commissioner (finance) Manoj Rajan.

The officer, however, thinks getting funds from the state and centre is not an issue. “We get the funds as and when we submit the work progress report,“ he said.

“It is true that a variety of taxes go to the state. But the BBMP has not fully exploited its revenue potential yet,“ said Ashok Rao, executive director at management and governance consulting. He faulted the BBMP for not collecting property taxes efficiently and ignoring arrears.