Only 70% of funds utilised by BBMP ward committees

Only about 70% of the ward committees have utilised the funds allocated to them in the last BBMP budget, a senior official has said.

The civic body had allocated Rs 60 lakh to each ward in order to empower ward committees and decentralise local governance. The nodal officer for the ward was empowered to utilise the funds in consultation with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) ward committee.

“We are yet to ascertain the actual utilisation but a rough estimate shows that only 60% to 70% of the wards have utilised these funds,” said Thulasi Maddineni, BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance).

According to the BBMP, of the Rs 60 lakh, Rs 20 lakh was to be spent on filling the potholes in the ward, Rs 20 lakh on borewell repairs, and the remaining Rs 20 lakh on the improvement of footpaths.

However, active ward committee members from across the city say that ward engineers may have utilised the funds without discussing them with the ward committee members.

“The ward committee meetings do not happen regularly in many wards. When this is the situation, if 60% of the wards have utilised the funds, it is likely to have happened without discussions with the ward committees,” said an active ward committee member from the South Zone.

Others opined that the execution of the idea had to be streamlined. “While it is a progressive decision to allocate money to the ward committees, the execution of the idea has to be streamlined. Now, we do not have an elected council and hence, the official ward committees have ceased to exist. This has made it difficult for us to track the utilisation,” said Sapna Karim, head, civic participation, Janaagraha.

While many had lauded the move, the BBMP is yet to announce if the allocation will continue this year as well. “The budget copy this year does not make a mention of the ward committees. There is no clarity yet,” Sapna said.

Thulasi Maddineni, however, said the BBMP is awaiting the approval of the budget to decide on the allocation. “The response by the ward committees has been good. But this year, ward-level allocations have changed. These allocations can be decided only after we get approval for the budget,” she told DH.