There seems no end to the controversy surrounding the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) when it comes to sanctioning tenders and raising loans for the infrastructure projects in the city. Barely weeks after the alleged late night tender clearance controversy ended, new issues cropped up.
Former mayor PR Ramesh has alleged that the BBMP raised a loan of Rs1,000 crore to pay the contractors executing the Palike infrastructure project. Ramesh has raised his concern in the wake of the announcement of the civic polls and with the code of conduct in place.
The former mayor on Saturday demanded an audit of the money spent and the work executed. Rameshalleged that the state government granted permission on March 6 to raise a loan of Rs1,000 crore. This was also the day the state election commission issued notification fixing the date for BBMP polls as March 28.
Interestingly, in the wake of the BBMP polls, the state government has granted permission to the Palike to raise loans from three banks to pay the contractors, so as to lure them, and the voters,” he alleged. The BBMP has been asked to repay the loan through its resources.
However, when contacted, the BBMP officials denied the allegations.
“Loan related correspondence has been happening for the past three months and it is a part of the routine in administration procedure. The loan was only approved on March 6. The amount is not yet released and this has got nothing to do with elections,” said a senior BBMP official.
Recently, the BBMP officials were looked at with suspicion when they were found to be working late into the night on Sankranti (January 15), an official holiday. Members of the opposition parties had then raided the office and nearly 20 officials, including the chief engineer, were allegedly inside the BBMP office working on a tender.
Comments