Deccan Herald 26.08.2013
Palike plans to erase bad past with road history
Duplication of work, fake bills and shoddy
execution of projects have been a bane for the Bruhat Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
To get rid of these
irregularities, BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana has issued a note
sheet, making it mandatory for engineers to include road history while
submitting proposals on ward level and major works.
The decision
was taken mainly because of the findings by the Technical Vigilance Cell
under Commissioner (TVCC) regarding many ward level works which were
frozen a few months ago.
The report highlighted many
shortcomings including the one that many roads where the works were
supposed to be taken up did not exist.
Deccan Herald had published a report on August 21 about the mega plan of the engineers and the corporators to loot the Palike.
BBMP sources said Lakshminarayana recently held a meeting with the additional commissioners, joint commissioners, zonal commissioners and chief engineers, where he directed them that, henceforth, he would not entertain any civil work at ward level without road history.
Although BBMP had a tradition of keeping road history, most of the Palike engineers never mentioned them while floating tenders and executing works.
This they had been doing apparently to embezzle public money. To keep tabs on such practices, Lakshminarayana has issued the instruction.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Lakshminarayana said the engineers had been told to feed the road history of their wards in the computer data, which will go online very soon.
BBMP sources said Lakshminarayana recently held a meeting with the additional commissioners, joint commissioners, zonal commissioners and chief engineers, where he directed them that, henceforth, he would not entertain any civil work at ward level without road history.
Although BBMP had a tradition of keeping road history, most of the Palike engineers never mentioned them while floating tenders and executing works.
This they had been doing apparently to embezzle public money. To keep tabs on such practices, Lakshminarayana has issued the instruction.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Lakshminarayana said the engineers had been told to feed the road history of their wards in the computer data, which will go online very soon.
The engineers should feed road history of at least four to five years without which works will not be approved.
Identifying contractors
Lakshminarayana said, “With road history, we will be able to check duplication of works and asphalting of a road again and again in a short span of time. Road history will tell us which contractor and engineer had done the civil work on a particular stretch of road. This way, we can identify the contractor for good or bad reason.”
Palike sources said the Palike engineers, corporators and contractors have been opposing the Geographical Information System-based road history for the last three to four years.
They had blocked its implementation so far as it would have choked their ‘revenue,’ but a detailed investigation into 1,972 frozen works worth Rs 522 crore necessitated the BBMP to push for it again.
The Palike engineers will have to feed information about their wards, roads and works executed there in the last five years.
