Amidst a protest by Opposition members, the Legislative Assembly approved the supplementary estimates (third instalment) of Rs 6177.7 crore for 2011-12. The Opposition was angry with the government for coming up with supplementary estimates, without initiating any new programmes. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah blasted the government saying it lacked fiscal discipline and was spending money as per its whims and fancies.
He referred to a requisition for Rs 85 lakh for a government function in Mysore and said the amount was spent on ferrying people for the CM’s function. “Besides, the government has earmarked Rs 37 crore for temples. In Chennapatna, Rs 5-10 lakh has been allocated indiscriminately for various programmes 520 times. Such discretionary grants do not augur well for financial discipline,’’ he remarked. Taking a dig at the previous budget which had an outlay of over Rs 85,000 crore, Mr Siddaramaiah asked how much of the allocation had actually been spent. As per the economic survey, the Accountant General said Rs 11,000 crore was unused during 2008-09 and Rs 12,364 crore unspent during 2009-10.