Former mayor PR Ramesh on Tuesday said he was sceptical about Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) project to de-silt storm water drains and demanded a high-level inquiry into what he termed a misuse of funds by the civic body.
Former mayor PR Ramesh on Tuesday said he was sceptical about Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) project to de-silt storm water drains and demanded a high-level inquiry into what he termed a misuse of funds by the civic body.
Ramesh said he planned to write to the prime minister, Union ministers for urban development and, law and justice, requesting them to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation or set up a judicial commission to probe into misuse and misappropriation in the BBMP regarding the remodelling of the primary and secondary storm water drains.
He said the project to reconstruct and remodel storm water drains in Hebbal, Vrushabhavathi, Koramangala and Challaghatta started in 2006 was yet to be completed, despite its importance to the public.
He questioned BBMP’s move to merge the project in 2006 with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) and increase the project fund from Rs350 crore to Rs925.38 in seven years.
“By the end of 2006, the entire project was merged with JnNURM programme and the total cost of the project was increased from the original cost of Rs350 crore in 2005-06 to Rs643.06 crore in 2006-07. Ironically, the contractors who were originally supposed to complete the project within 18 months from the work order in the year 2005-06, were allowed to continue the work without following the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act.
Since the project was not completed on time, it should have been withdrawn. Fresh tender should be called for speedy execution of the work to safeguard the public’s interest,” he said.
Ramesh said the statement submitted to the Central Sanctioning Monitoring Committee (CSMC) in 2008 showed the work was 40% completed in Hebbal, 43% in Vrushabavathi, 30% in Koramangala and 35% in Challagatta.
On March 15, the entire project was revised based on the approval of CSMC by increasing cost of the project to Rs925.38 crore. “Surprisingly, once again the earlier contractor was allowed to carry out the work, violating the original agreement of 2005-2006,” said Ramesh.
He said that the BBMP had in 2008 claimed to have removed 15 lakh cubic metres of silt from the drains. The Palike needed to use 1.40 lakh truckloads to dump the silt in the designated place. “When we reached the place to verify the claim, we found not more than 500 loads of silt,” said Ramesh.
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