BENGALURU: With the forthcoming general election in mind, the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council, on Monday, rolled out a Rs 10,600-crore civic budget for 2019-20. Women were the leitmotif of the entire exercise, beginning with pink ends on the budget booklet to the various welfare schemes.The women-centric programmes proposed included the Mahalakshmi scheme, through which the civic agency plans to provide Rs 1 lakh bond to the first girl child of any family delivered at BBMP maternity homes and the Annapoorneshwari scheme through which the scheme agency intends to provide 50% subsidy for women entrepreneurs owning mobile canteens.Hemalatha Gopalaiah, chairperson of the taxation and finance standing committee, made history of sorts by becoming only the second woman to present a Bengaluru budget. Lalitha Srinivas Gowda, in 2006, was the first woman member to present a civic budget.With grants of about Rs 8,000 crore promised for Benglauru in the state budget, BBMP has promised to take up a string of infrastructure works including elevated corridors, white-topping and improvement of storm water drains.Funds were also allocated for drinking water units and revival of lakes, while the budget also planned to go ahead with the pedestrianisation of three commrcial hubs — Church Street, Commercial Street and Brigade Road — as announced in the state budget.Hemalatha announced that the ‘Mahalakshmi Yojane’ will be implemented from April 1, 2019 till March 31, 2020. The scheme will benefit the first baby girl born to a family in any of the 24 BBMP maternity hospitals in the city. “Every first baby girl born to a family will be gifted 15-year maturity bonds of Rs 1 lakh as assistance for their education or wedding. The civic agency has earmarked Rs 60 crore for this purpose,” Hemalatha said.Under the Annapoorneshwari programme, 50% subsidy will provided to four vehicles in each assembly constituency for women from economically weaker sections to run mobile canteens units on self-employment basis. BBMP has earmarked Rs 5 crore for the scheme.Prioritising women’s health, Hemalatha said the BBMP will purchase two fully equipped mobile testing buses at a cost of Rs 3 crore. The aim is to detect cancer in the initial stages. Another Rs 50 lakh has been allocated to set up a cancer treatment division in Dr Babu Jagjeevan Ram General hospital, JJR Nagar. Hemalatha has also earmarked Rs 19.8 crore for women-centric welfare programmes. Each ward will get Rs 10 lakh under this criteria.

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