Aafrin Kidwai 
Less than ten days ago, BBMP Commissioner Gaurav Gupta presented the city’s budget for 2021-22, in the absence of an elected Council. The budget outlay for this year is slightly lower than that in the last two years, yet relatively high at Rs 9286.8 crore, reports Citizen Matters.
The highest allocations (Rs 54,17.5 crore) from the budget are for the Public Works Department, which implements a range of projects such as building and maintaining roads, stormwater drains, parks, etc. The next highest allocation – around Rs 1622 crore – is for the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department.
The highest allocations for SWM are towards work outsourced to contractors, around Rs 550 crore. Around Rs 40 crore has been allocated for maintaining landfills and for developing the villages affected by these landfills. Rs 5 crore has been allocated for upgrading Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) and Rs 15 lakh has been allocated for decentralised composting. Development of the areas surrounding the waste dumping yards in Doddabidrekallu village has been allotted Rs 9 crore. CCTV cameras will also be installed in large blackspots and SWM plants at the cost of Rs 10.3 lakh. Rs 10 crore have been set aside for the purchase of mechanical sweeping machines.
