Narendra Babu goes after BBMP babus

The BBMP has come under a cloud after Mahalakshmi Layout MLA NL Narendra Babu accused it of committing irregularities and financial misappropriation in the tender processing to improve drains and footpaths in the area.

It took an RTI application for Babu to find out that the tender notification (number EE/MLP/TEND/ 09/2009-10) is fake.

“There is more to the fake tenders than meets the eye. When I asked BBMP officials to give me details of this tender, they gave me a fake copy. This was confirmed when I went to the local office of a newspaper in which the notification appeared. I searched the newspaper’s online archives too,” said Babu.

“A tender had appeared but it was not for West of Chord Road, Mahalakshmi Layout, but for KR Puram,” he added.

Through the same RTI application, Babu allegedly found that similar bank demand drafts were used for two separate projects. “A bank DD (number 952528) has been issued for a project that is estimated at `20 lakh and another project worth Rs15lakh,” he said.

The projects were issued on the same day and they do not have signatures of all contractors participating in the project.

“The DD has to be taken in the name of the BBMP commissioner and the agreement must have signatures of the contractors. This is a rule, but it has not been followed,” he said.

Babu alleged that the BBMP has not kept records of roads or trees that were cut. “In our area, roads have been dug up many times, but they have not kept records of why the road was dug up. This keeps the public guessing. This is nothing but a fraudulent company,” he said.

However, the BBMP officials say they do not have anything to do with the tender notification as they were floated in 2009.

“We do not know who the executive engineer was back then, so I cannot vouch for these tenders or be against them either,” said Rangaraju, chief engineer, west, BBMP.