The cash-strapped BBMP has been orally directed to restart 1,970 “unnecessary works” worth Rs 522.96 crore  that were stopped following a negative report by the Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC).

“I have directed the BBMP to take up these works, which  are necessary. Many works were stopped as the BBMP officials had given their report on them to the TVCC without even doing a spot inspection,” District-in-Charge Minister R Ramalinga Reddy said.

“The BBMP is yet to get orders officially from the Urban Development Department. Once we get a nod in writing, we will take up the works in a phased manner,” a BBMP official said.

The move has raised many eyebrows. A senior BBMP official said, “The government seems to have given in to pressure from councillors and contractors to restart the stalled works.”

He contended that most of the 23,000 works going on across the city are neither inspected nor verified. “If proper inspection is done, BBMP can save up to Rs 2,000 crore,” the official added.

Reddy, however, said most of the works that were claimed to have been stopped after the TVCC report have, in fact, been completed. “Of the total Rs 522 crore, some Rs 60 crore worth of works are pending. I have directed the authorities concerned to release funds that were sanctioned under MLA grants,” he said.

The decision is likely to snowball into a controversy as the BJP is likely to take it up to corner the government. “We will discuss with our MLAs and councillors and take a stand,” former CM Jagadish Shettar told Express.

In April, the then BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah directed TVCC to inspect all development works sanctioned in 2012-13. Later, TVCC Chief Engineer Devraj and team found most of them, though sanctioned, were not started. Then BBMP Special Commissioner K R Niranjan noted that `762.51 crore has been sanctioned to execute 2,756 works, of which 1,970 works worth Rs 522.96 crore had not be started. “Every year, old wards get Rs 2 crore and new wards get Rs 3 crore each for ward level works. What is the need to take up these other works?” he said.

The decision angered councillors. In May, during the BBMP Council meeting, councillors objected to Siddaiah’s decision and took him, Niranjan and Devraj to task. Siddaiah has retired from service, Devraj opted for VRS and Niranjan sought a transfer.The issue was debated at a recent council meeting, where the new commissioner M Lakshminarayan told members: “The works are not scrapped, but only frozen.”