BBMP's MyCityMyBudget: Citizens want better footpaths, parks and toilets

Bengaluru: MYcity mybudget has seen an overwhelming response to end yellow spots (public urination), improve footpaths and fix quality of parks.

MyCityMyBudget, the annual participatory budgeting campaign run by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in collaboration with Janaagraha and community organisations, was launched on February 23. Between February 23 and March 20, the campaign reached all 198 wards under the leadership of community groups, apartment associations, federations and resident welfare associations.

Around 7,238 budget inputs have been provided by citizens to make Namma Bengaluru a walkable, public urination-free and green city. 3,290 were received for construction of public toilets (46%), 2188 for footpath improvements (30%) and 1760 inputs for building parks(24%).

Further among these categories, 'new footpaths' has received the highest inputs, 'lack of playing and gym equipment' appear to be an oft repeated issue and lack of public toilets is also a major conscern among citizens in Bengaluru.

The top three wards which have provided budget inputs are Shantala Nagara, Ramamurthy Nagara and Sanjay Nagara. Top three zones that received budget inputs are East, South and Bommana Halli. 28% of inputs have come from the East zone, with public toilet category having the highest budget inputs.

BBMP made national headlines by allocating Rs 120 crore or Rs 60 lakh per ward for development of footpaths, potholes and borewells by Ward Committees in the 2021-22 budget. Subsequent to this announcement Gaurav Gupta, BBMP Chief Commissioner, convened a training for nodal officers to implement this with Ward Committees. "I am happy to note that we continue to receive budget inputs from the citizens. It signals the commitment the citizens have towards improving the city. We took a first step last year by allocating focused budgets for Ward Committees. And we expect to continue to support the Ward Committees similarly in the coming year too," says Gaurav Gupta.

"It is heartening to see the continued engagement of citizens in BBMP's MyCityMyBudget campaign this year too. Over the last year, citizens and Ward Committee volunteers from many wards have been in touch with me on the ward budget allocation and utilization that we allocated. I believe this is a good sign, and we should continue to encourage citizen participation in the city's and ward's development," says Thulasi Maddineni, Special Commissioner, Finance, BBMP.

The Head – Civic Participation at Janaagraha, Srinivas Alavilli says "Budget allocations to ward committees is a brand new chapter in participatory budgeting and we are pleased to see deep and meaningful engagement of citizens to make their wards better. Local issues are best resolved locally with empowered Ward Committees and we are hopeful that BBMP will continue to devolve funds to ward level and focus on fixing issues brought forth in this process."

"MyCityMyBudget in its 6th year now shows that there is no stopping the citizens of Bengaluru when it comes to the future of their city. Year after year they participate in thousands, a clear sign of democratic engagement. The BBMP made a pioneering start last year with the ward level budget allocations, and we trust that this year will be no different, and that ward allocations will continue and we hope there is greater allocation to fulfil citizen demands." says Sapna Karim of Janaagraha

Janaagraha has collected, categorised, analysed and shared this data with the BBMP for the Ward Engineers to refer to as they begin spending ward level budgets.

Janaagraha worked with five wards as a pilot to help implement the footpath budget allocation. In these five wards, the community groups undertook scientific surveys, worked with the engineers to cost it, passed a resolution in their Ward Committee meeting and submitted it to the BBMP for implementation. It is now in the process of being tendered and work orders issued.