With no legally elected local representatives in BBMP these days, what exactly is a BBMP budget?

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Only criticism would be, and a big one - there is no real thrust on public transport. Yes, there is talk of making BMRC agree on the mono proposals (must be a reference to Scomi-Geodesic plans I guess), but there is no promise in there to implement mono, or any other form of pub trans. Since BBMP's promises are aligned with Abide's diktats, in there somewhere, there would be plans for dedicated bus lanes at select stretches. Lets wait and watch.

There is talk of amenities (lakes, peds, parks). Road works are aligned with whatever is being talked about (perhaps this is a benefit of not having a real local semi-autonomous BBMP, it can be made to align with state government's plans).

Amongst all the goodies, I didn't find any new ideas or investments in the area of solid waste management. Growth means more production and more consumption, which in turn means more wastes to manage. 10% growth in GDP ~+ 10% growth in wastes too. So, it needs commensurate increased investments.

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Absolutely. "Infrastructure" in this city only means "signal-free" roads, flyovers /ROBs /RUBs /Magic Boxes & does not include facilities for Public Transport, Solid waste management, Water, Power, etc.

A silver lining is that the neglect of pedestrians & their needs seem to have been recognized. Nothing for the bicyclists though !

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My take on the budget allocations as reported in the news media:

> Rs 148.49 cr for Greener Bangalore - Good

> Pedestrian Facilities (220 underpasses, 16 skywalks) - Good

> Bridges / underpasses @ Railway intersections - Welcome move

> Rs 6 cr per ward - Will benefit if citizens get their say on its use

> Mid term fiscal plan - Welcome move 

> Road infrastructure - Signal free corridors - Not sure. Atleast a part of the allocation could be better spent on junction improvements and general quality of our road infrastructure. Things such as bus bays, uniform lane widths, foot paths, road drainage, signalling...

> ABIDe is the new king - Good and bad. It is good that people are listening to those outside their own organization. But just blindly following every recommendation one organization makes might not be a great idea. What happened to CTTP? What about BMLTA? Does BBMP also talk to BMTC, BTP, BCP and other stake holders?

Looking forward to the budget document and action taken report (for 2008-09) to be put up on BBMP website.

Ravi

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I would have loved to hear about some funds being thrown in for parking solutions. More roads being widened to accommodate more vehicles but no solution for parking will lead to roadside parking which defeats the purpose. Apart from a few PPP parking lots there should have been more Multistoried parking lots being proposed. Also 220 ped subways, wow. And 3 in the vicinity of St Marthas hospital I heard and none of those have ramps (even for the hospital ones!!), well that's a bummer.

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