Udupi: Udupi City Municipal Council at its general body meeting here on Saturday, 5th March, 2016 adopted surplus budget of Rs. 1.58 crores for the fiscal year 2016/17.

The session was chaired by Mr. Yuvaraj which began with a stormy protest by BJP members led by Dr. M. R. Pai, opposition leader of the council objected to the presentation of the budget at a special general body meeting and the budget should have been presented before 15th January, 2016.
Mr. Yuvaraj said that the word special had been inadvertently written. It was in a fact a general body meeting. The budget could not be presented in January as the model code of conduct was in force for the Legislative Council Polls.

After the brief protest, Mr Yuvaraj read out the fiscal budget for 2016/17. The budget showed the total receipts of Rs. 85.62 crores while total expenditure has been projected at Rs. 84.13 crores.

Under the programme, new parks would be developed near Kalmady Bridge, Bailoor and Kasturba Nagar at a cost of Rs. 10 lakhs which showed the increasing greenery and beautification of the temple city. An amount of Rs. 20 lakhs had been allocated for the development of a park jointly by the CMC and Udupi Urban Development Authority (UUDA) at Kodankur. The open air theatre at Bhujanga Park would be developed with the public. For the fencing of Bhujanga Park Rs. One crore was allocated.

Meanwhile, at Santhekatte, Doddangudde, near MIT Manipal and Subrmanya Nagar Ponds would be constructed in association with UUDA at the cost of Rs. 55 lakhs.

New circles in the city would be constructed at Old Diana Circle, Beedinagudde, Mission Compound, End point Junction, Brahmagiri and Narayana Guru Mandira. A circle would be constructed in the busy service bus stand-clock tower area.

To promote e-governance at the CMC office steps would be taken and for the payment of property tax, so that it would help people to pay their property tax online. It would be also planned to get people information about payment of taxes.

After the announcement of the budget, some of the opposition members thanked the President of the council Yuvaraj whose term expired as President. Meanwhile, opposition members criticized the budget as usual opposition wanted to do.

Yuvaraj also thanked all the members, including the opposition for their cooperation during his tenure as President of the council. Meanwhile, he gave gratitude to the Municipal, officials and all concerned.

Dinakar Shetty Herga of BJP said that the CMC should not impose garbage management fees on citizens when it is already collecting property tax. This would be an additional burden for the citizens.

Leader of the opposition Dr. M. R. Pai, Yashpal Suvarna and almost a majority of councilors were present during the general body meeting.