BANGALORE: Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has to pay Rs 750 crore to various banks as part of its loan interest and it needs to be paid before December 31, 2011. Else, accounts will be freezed.Replying to queries raised by Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) and independent members on the ‘financial status’ of BBMP at the council meeting here on Tuesday, Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda said that new projects will be taken up in the city. Apart from the pending bills, BBMP has to pay Rs 750 crore towards ‘hundi’, a temporary financial provision with banks to meet the urgent requirement of contractors and for other soft loans. This has to be paid in next four days that is before December 31, 2011.“If we fail to pay, BBMP’s accounts will be frozen. This will prevent Palike from any kind of financial transaction,” he said. It can be noted here that BBMP has over 500 bank accounts in 12 financial institutions.Gowda said that BBMP owes Rs 3,800 crore to financial institutions and availability of further loans is bleak. He said that there is a need to mobilize the resources and repay the loans instead of going for mega projects. Stating the recent letter from state government to BBMP which had slammed Palike’s budget as ‘unrealistic’, Gowda said that the performance of the 2010-11 budget has been pathetic with shortage of whopping Rs 4,930 crore.“Hence, the BBMP must present the realistic budget and stick to the stipulated time to prevent embarrassment,” he added.Explaining further, the commissioner said that BBMP is expecting to collect Rs 1,000 crore by the end of April 2012 and at least Rs 500 crore will be spent on development works While the old wards will be given Rs 2 crore each, new ones will get Rs 3 crore each.Budget draft by Feb 15Gowda, while answering quiries said that presenting budget by April as stipulated by the KMC Act prevents unrealistic budget. “According to KMC, draft should be prepared by January 15 of every year,” he said.
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