Karnataka budget focuses on Bengaluru, lion’s share kept to ease city traffic

Presenting his seventh budget, CM Yediyurappa does not announce any major schemes or flagship projects, admits Karnataka under severe financial distress.

File image of Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa | Photo: PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa seems determined to change Bengaluru’s reputation as one of the “most traffic-congested cities” in the world if his pronouncements in the state budget are anything to go by.  

In his seventh budget presented Thursday, the chief minister allocated a lion’s share towards the development of Bengaluru’s civic infrastructure and also announced a special municipal act exclusively for the city. All this despite Karnataka facing major financial distress following a Rs 8,887-crore reduction in the state’s share of central taxes. 

The budget comes in the backdrop of Bengaluru being named the world’s most traffic congested city in January, by TomTom, a Netherlands-based global provider of navigation, traffic and map products. 

The state capital beat 415 cities across 57 countries to earn the title.  

CM hopes to ease Bengaluru’s traffic woes 

Yediyurappa who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, has prepared a detailed mobility plan that he hopes will smoothen the city’s traffic woes. 

A total grant of Rs 8,772 crore has been allocated in the budget for the comprehensive development of Bengaluru city. It includes a detailed plan to decongest the city and provide impetus to public transport through the metro and city bus services. 

The BJP government has also allocated Rs 14,500 crore towards the construction of a 56-km long Outer Ring Road and an Airport Metro from the Central Silk Board junction to the Bengaluru International Airport through Krishna Raja Puram and Hebbala.   

The government hopes that the moves will decrease the pressure on the city’s roads.  

Govt to emphasise on city roads, public transport

The chief minister has also allocated Rs 500 crore for the development of roads by the Karnataka Road Development Authority to ensure decongestion of roads within Bengaluru city. 

Emphasising on the need to enhance use of public transport from 48 per cent to 73 per cent, the chief minister has prioritised the completion of the 12.8 km Mysore-Kengeri and Kanakapura-Anjanapura sections under the Namma Metro project.  

“To encourage mass transport and provide effective metro feeder transport, 2,390 new buses including 890 electric buses will be added to the fleet of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation,” Yediyurappa’s budget speech said.  

Too many promises that govt can’t meet: Experts

Urban experts feel that the budget has made a lot of promises that the government may not be able to realise. While they agree that there is a need to fix the Bengaluru brand to ensure investments come to the state, the focus should also be in delivering them as well.  

“That Bengaluru’s infrastructure is seriously stressed is global news today. So keeping in mind the investor sentiments, there is obviously pressure to make the place work,” said urban affairs expert V. Ravichander. “The thing really is, one would like to see proper implementation of the proposals.

“The best thing in the budget is the promise of a new act only for Bengaluru. As without it, it is impossible to fix the problem without government reforms,” he added. 

Political analysts, however, feel that Yediyurappa’s budget is a reflection of how cash-starved Karnataka is. “The biggest challenge of this budget is the severe resource crunch that the state faces. It is not a popular budget filled with promises,” said political commentator Sandeep Shastri. 

“Two things stand out,” he added. “One is the reduction of the central contributions to the state budget and two there is a huge gap in the estimated revenue and the actual revenue. This means what you are projecting as revenue will not be realised.”