Bengaluru Gets Rs 45,000 Crore in Karnataka Budget 2023; Rs 30,000 Crore for Namma Metro

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented the 2023-2024 budget, with an outlay of over Rs 3.27 lakh crore, in the Legislative Assembly, allotting Rs 45,000 crore for the development works surrounding capital city Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah presented his 14th budget in the Assembly as Finance Minister, surpassing the mark of late Ramakrishna Hegde, a former CM, who had presented 13 budgets.

Siddaramaiah said approximately Rs 52,000 crore would be spent annually for the five key poll ‘guarantees’ and it is expected to benefit 1.3 crore families. He said through the five ‘guarantees’ (poll promises), the Congress government will be providing an average additional financial assistance of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a month to each household.

The five ‘guarantees’ are for free bus travel for women, 200 units of free electricity, 10 kilograms of free foodgrains to the poor, Rs 2,000 for the woman head of the house and unemployment benefit of up to Rs 3,000. Political analysts said these pre-poll promises helped the Congress win the recent state Assembly elections.

In the 224-member Assembly, the Congress bagged 135 seats, while the BJP secured 66 and the JD(S) 19.

Here’s what Bengaluru got:

• Rs 30,000 crore has been allotted to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s (BMRCL) Namma Metro, to further developments in a bid to ease Bengaluru’s ongoing traffic issues
• Rs 1,000 crore for suburban trains
• Rs 800 crore allocated for white topping of 100 km of city roads
• New flyover at cost of Rs 263 crore to connect SMVT Bengaluru railway station
• A public hospital dedicated to organ transplant will be built at NIMHANS in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 146 crore
• Rs 100 crore to repair, renovate and restart Indira Canteens
• 20 sewage treatment plants to be upgraded.

With PTI Inputs