Karnataka budget: Siddaramaiah aims to make Bengaluru ‘most liveable city’, but offers no big-ticket schemes

Having raised the Bengaluru development grant from Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000 crore last year, the government decided to continue the grant for the current fiscal year too. The budget also set aside Rs 3,000 crore to white-top more than 450 km of roads in the city. The amount allocated was for three years.

“A 9 km-long pedestrian walkway along the Metro viaduct on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 160 crore, under the sponsorship of Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA),” the CM announced. The Nelamangala-Tavarekere-Bidadi Intermediate Ring Road will be constructed using financial resources of Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) and local planning authorities to reduce traffic congestion in the city, he added.

The budget also proposed to “undertake the beautification of 175 junctions, upgradation of 500 km footpaths and the construction of 100 skywalks over the next three years by using the internal resources of the Bengaluru City Corporations”.

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Several of the announcements were either part of Cabinet deliberations or announcements made in the past. These included the Cauvery Phase VI project costing Rs 6,939 crore, ‘KHB Surya Kreeda Grama’—an 80,000-seating capacity cricket stadium and an international-standard sports complex designed to host international sporting events proposed to be constructed by the Karnataka Housing Board in Anekal taluk —and the Tunnel Road and Elevated Road from Hebbal Junction to Mekhri Circle at Rs 2,250 crore.

The Karnataka Water Security and Resilience Programme (KWSRP), a World Bank-funded initiative cleared by the Cabinet, under which various disaster management programmes will be taken up over five year period at Rs 5,000 crore to control flooding in Bengaluru city, was also announced.

On Metro, the budget announced that a total of 41km of additional Metro lines will be completed during the financial year 2026-27, which is expected to benefit approximately 15 lakh commuters daily. It set a 2030 deadline to complete Corridor-2 (Benniganahalli-Chikkabanavara) and Corridor-4 (Heelalige-Rajanukunte) of the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project. Land acquisition for Corridor-2 was complete, while it was underway for Corridor-4. “It is targeted to complete works in both corridors by December 2030. For the current year, Rs 500 crore has been allocated to these works,” Siddaramaiah said.

Other announcements for Bengaluru:

* In a first in the state, a CT scan centre for livestock veterinary hospitals at Bengaluru to accurately diagnose diseases in animals.

* Digital library and study centres will be set up at Dharwad and Bengaluru for students preparing for competitive examinations, at a cost of Rs 10 crore each.

* An MoU has been signed with Azim Premji Foundation for the construction of a 1,000-bedded charitable super speciality tertiary care and organ transplant hospital at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bengaluru.

* A regional centre of Jayadeva Cardiovascular Institute at BBMP Multispeciality Hospital at Govindarajanagar, Bengaluru, in collaboration with Greater Bengaluru Authority, at a cost of Rs 15 crore

* Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru will be renamed Shantaveri Gopalagowda Hospital. Rs.10 crore will be provided for the construction of a boys’ hostel for MBBS and BDS students of Bangalore Medical College.

* Sri Maharshi Valmiki Administrative Soudha to be constructed at Sumanahalli in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 50 crore to accommodate the Directorate of Scheduled Tribes, the corporation and other offices under the department.

* Modern laundries with washing machines, dryers, ironing machines and other equipment will be established at Dhobi Ghats in Bengaluru and Mysuru cities for the Madivala community at a unit cost of Rs 75 lakh each.

* Four new working women’s hostels with a capacity of 100 will be started in Bengaluru.

* Rs 5 crore to establish a Minority Development and Training Centre at Asirvanam Benedictine Monastery’s two-acre land at Kengeri in Bengaluru.

* A detailed project report has been prepared and submitted to the Centre to establish a state-of-the-art ‘Science City’ at a cost of Rs 233 crore in Adinarayana Hosahalli, Bengaluru. Upon approval, the State will take further steps, including design and development.

* In collaboration with ‘Bengaluru Habba’, different art forms and fine arts such as painting and carving sculptures will be organised annually at a cost of Rs 5 crore.

* A Centre of Excellence for kayaking and canoeing will be established in Hesaraghatta Lake of Bengaluru under a PPP model

* A Leopard Rehabilitation Centre will be established in Bannerghatta for rehabilitating leopards captured from the residential areas on the outskirts of Bengaluru, at a cost of Rs 5 crore

* A 153-acre area in Madappanahalli, Bengaluru North Taluk, will be transformed into a ‘lung space’, designating it as ‘Cultural Leader Basavanna Biodiversity Park’.

* To effectively manage traffic congestion in Bengaluru, an integrated digital platform will be developed at a cost of Rs 25 crore by collecting and analysing data managed separately by various traffic management agencies to facilitate a smooth traffic system.

* To identify and effectively manage accident black spots across the state, including Bengaluru, a modern software system with a dashboard will be developed at a cost of Rs 5 crore in collaboration with IIT Madras and NIC

* e-Courts to be established on a pilot basis in Bengaluru, Dharwad, Kalburagi and Mysuru at a cost of Rs 10 crore to implement a paperless, efficient and citizen-centric judicial system.