The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) budget for the year 2020-21 was passed online after the securing the approval of the members on Tuesday. This was owing to the restrictions in place because of the lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MUDA Commissioner Kantharaj said that no budget meeting was held but a draft copy of the same was circulated through mail to the fellow members for their approval. He said it is now deemed as passed consequent to the approval from the members.
The MUDA budget envisages a revenue of ₹324.50 crore against an expenditure of ₹322.91 crore leaving it with a surplus of ₹1.58 crore.
Though the bulk of the budget outlay from the revenue is for layout development and extending civic infrastructure, MUDA has taken a step forward towards the construction of the Outer Peripheral Ring Road and has allotted ₹5 crore for it.
In a bid to make farmers partners in development, the authority is pushing for 50:50 formula as per which farmers will surrender their land to MUDA which will develop the same and retain 50% of the sites. The farmers will be free to sell the developed plot at the prevailing market rate. As per the formula, MUDA will save on the cost of land acquisition and farmers will secure the market value of the land and reap higher profit.
Though the concept looks good on paper, it has not worked in case of Balahalli as the sale of developed plot will hinge on the interest of buyers to purchase land in a particular locality. So farmers have argued that they will be left with neither the land to take up agriculture nor will they get compensation for surrendering it but will be left with sites monetizing which will be difficult.
But notwithstanding the Balahalli setback, MUDA has announced in the budget that it will develop new layouts at Malalavadi, Dhanagalli, Daripura, etc.
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