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Financial Management

BDA-Bank make site purchase easier

Wednesday, 20 October 2010 07:01 administrator
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The Deccan Herald  20.10.2010

BDA-Bank make site purchase easier

Bangalore, October 19, DHNS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In an effort to make the Bangalore Developmental Authority (BDA) more citizen friendly, the BDA on Tuesday entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Corporation Bank to provide a ‘one stop’ facility to acquire a site, or piece of land in Bangalore.

Under the MoU, henceforth, citizens can approach any branch of the Corporation Bank in the City to apply or make payments towards a site, under the BDA guidelines.

The financial transactions will include routing of compensation towards landowners, sale and acceptance of applications for sites by eligible citizens, installment payment towards the allocated sites, and other such activities. 

In two months

The facility which is to take shape in the next two months, will ensure that all services pertaining to BDA activities, will be routed through the Corporation Bank in the future. BDA Commissioner Bharath Lal Meena has not ruled out involvement of any other banking institutions in the course of time for the same, or better benefits to be provided to citizens.

Added transparency

The BDA Commissioner, speaking to the media, stated that the facility will bring about added transparency in the functioning of the Authority, apart from ensuring better functionality and focus on customer services.

“We have begun with the Corporation Bank in the initial stage, perhaps the MoU will now arouse interest among other banking institutions to provide the same or better benefits by having a tie-up with us,” Meena said.

As per the MoU, the Corporation Bank will further provide their banking services and information technology (IT) services to digitise the BDA records and provide the same to the citizens at kiosks to be installed in all Authority offices across the City.

“The kiosks will also act as an information centre, with the Corporation Bank offering to digitise our records with their back office facilities and provide them online. It will increase the transparency in our working,” the commissioner informed.

BDA embarks on houses for EWS

The Bangalore Development Authority has embarked upon building houses for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) at ten locations in and around Bangalore.
According to the BDA officials, tenders were floated in September for the first phase of construction on six acres at two locations.

As many as 656 houses will be constructed by the BDA in joint venture with a private player. The project is scheduled to be completed within 18 months.

The EWS housing project of the BDA began in 2006 during the coalition regime, but gained steam after four years. The officials were unable to explain the reason for the delay.

10 locations

Speaking at an event in the City, BDA Commissioner Bharath Lal Meena said the Authority would construct EWS quarters at 10 different locations subject to land availability.

In the first phase, the construction will be taken up on five acres in Volgerenhalli, Nagarbhavi and one acre in Nandini Layout, all owned by the BDA.

Each housing unit in Volgerenhalli will measure 386 sq feet, while those in Nandini Layout measure of 256 sq feet. In addition, the government has allotted 200 acres for the purpose.

Meena stated at present it was hard to project the exact number of houses to be constructed. “Currently, we are looking at the preparation of the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) at eight locations. We could arrive at the numbers after the DPR is finalised”, the Commissioner said. 

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 October 2010 07:05
 

BMC hasn’t revealed budget actuals for 3 years

Friday, 15 October 2010 10:57 administrator
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Indian Express   15.10.2010

BMC hasn’t revealed budget actuals for 3 years

Express News Service Tags : Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, budget Posted: Fri Oct 15 2010, 23:19 hrs

 Mumbai :  The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the country’s richest civic body, has not presented an audit statement for the past three years. The last budget actuals of all civic departments were compiled and presented during the financial year of 2006-07. The issue was raised in the civic body’s general body meeting Thursday. Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said that due to technical glitches in the computerised accounting system the overall picture of budget actuals remains unclear.

Corporators also demanded the refund of the sewerage tax, being collected under water charges and property tax, that the civic body has been collecting from citizens for over 10 years due to technical and administrative mismanagement. BJP corporator Ashish Shelar said that owing to technical glitches in the SAP computing system, the BMC has been ignorant of its actual financial position. “There is complete financial mismanagement within the BMC and this is eventually affecting the developmental activities in the city. On what basis did the civic body seek internal loans if they had no idea about the actual balance as compared to budget estimates,” asked Shelar. Municipal auditor Prashant Pisolkar said though various departments have their individual actuals recorded manually, there is no way to compile this data and therefore there was no clear-cut data available to show how much the BMC has spent and how much it has earned. “For three years we have been relying on unreconciled figures. This means we have no idea about the actual fund positions, liquidity levels etc.” said Pisolkar. 

Over 13,000 persons have applied seeking refund of the excess amount in sewarage tax .Congress coprorator Rajhans Singh said that the BMC should refund the extra amount in three months.

Gupta said due to technical glitches an overall clear picture was not appearing on SAP despite accurate data entry. “We are working hard towards solving this issue. It is purely of a technical nature and hope to solve it within three months. In the case of levying of double-tax, we have refunded the amount over 90 per cent of the applications. Only 1069 cases are pending,” said Gupta.

Last Updated on Friday, 15 October 2010 10:59
 

With no checks, BBMP slips on financial front

Wednesday, 13 October 2010 10:54 administrator
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The Times of India            13.10.2010

With no checks, BBMP slips on financial front

BANGALORE: A single work code used for several projects. No inspection done on works for which whopping bills were produced. Projects approved over and above the stipulated budget... All these boil down to a single phrase — work code scam — that has swallowed at least Rs 3,500 crore from BBMP's coffers.

The scam, unearthed recently by the chief auditor's wing, has raised many questions among citizens about the pathetic state of BBMP's financial management.

The Palike, which is ascertaining facts behind the scam, may perhaps have to get into a self-disciplined mode by following its own best practices to maintain transparency in the system.

Between 2002 and 2004, BBMP used to present a bi-monthly financial report called 'Aarthika Darpana', which reflected ward work, cost of projects, percentage of their completion and other details. This public document was meant to maintain transparency in the Palike's functioning. But this was stopped in 2004 due to various reasons. According to civic experts and former corporators, it's time BBMP started publishing a financial report.

According to Ajit Phadnis, Loksatta party convener and national consultant for inter-parliamentary union, a reason for the scam could be absence of an Aarthika Darpana (financial mirror). "The Palike used to come up with a financial update. It was a device to enhance communication between the elected and official wings of the corporation, and was of great use to elected representatives in following up work in their words. If the corporators were willing, they could discuss the financial mirror with their constituents and thus get useful feedback. It must be re-introduced," said Phadnis. "In the absence of an elected council, there was no proper check-and-balance system when the scam took place," he opined.

Former mayor and Hanumanthnagar corporator K Chandrashekar agreed there was a need to restart the financial mirror. "To bring back transparency in the system, measures must be taken to start a report like Aarthika Darpana. Besides, the deputy mayor hasn't yet bothered to table the administrative report of the past three years before the council. Unless these practices are brought back, corruption in BBMP will not stop," he added.

However, to maintain transparency in the functioning, the taxation and finance standing committee is thinking of bringing out a monthly report with regard to budget-approved projects. "This will be a monthly report and similar to Aarthika Darpana where the progress of projects taken up in different wards will be mentioned," said committee chairman P N Sadashiva.

Fit for suo motu action
Reacting to the work code scam, MP and ABIDe task force convener Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "The scam must be thoroughly probed and those guilty must be prosecuted. I think it is a fit case for suo motu action to be taken by the Lokayukta."

 
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