The Hindu              31.01.2014

BDA donates Rs. 18 crore

Expressing concern over the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) doling out over Rs. 18 crore in donations to various organisations since January 2007, Member of Legislative Council Ashwath Narayana on Thursday urged the government to check duplication of donations.

Speaking during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council, he said many of the organisations get donations from Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Kannada and Culture Department for the same event. Mr. Narayana said while farmers were made to run from pillar to post to get compensation for their land acquired by the BDA, the authority gave away donations even to private entities indiscriminately. He wondered how the BDA could do so with public money.

Responding to the issue on behalf of the Chief Minister, Leader of the House S.R. Patil said the government would devise a mechanism to check duplication. He said there was no bar on making donations or issuing advertisements under the BDA Act. The authority has been making the donations based on directions from the government, Mr. Patil said.

Leader of the Opposition D.V. Sadananda Gowda said he had ordered that all applications seeking donations be rooted through the Chief Minister’s office when he was holding the office.

The Times of India              31.01.2014         

NMC begins 18 Kumbh works worth 442.11cr

NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has commenced 18 out of the 96 Kumbh-related works worth Rs 442.11 crore. Another 11 works amounting to Rs 94.43 crore are still in the tender process.

On January 16, municipal commissioner Sanjay Khandare had asked all the heads of departments (HODs) of the NMC to submit the status report of the Kumbh works concerning their departments.

As per the reports, 96 Kumbh-related works have been assigned to all the departments, out of which, orders for 18 works costing Rs 442.11 crore have been given to contractors and they are in process of execution. Out of that, 15 are road related works worth Rs 427.62 crore, one for laying a bridge on the Godavari (Rs 6.13 crore) and two drainage-related works worth Rs 8.36 crore, sources told TOI.

Eleven works are in the tender process, of which works worth Rs 60.97 crore belong to the water supply department and three works worth Rs 15.29 crore are for construction of bridges on the Godavari, while another three works worth Rs 14.17 crore are related to sewage treatment.

Apart from that, tenders for 17 works, amounting to Rs 152.94 crore, are to be floated by March-end which include four works worth Rs 82.70 crore for Sadhugram, road works worth Rs 30 crore, temporary parking with toilet facility worth Rs 10 crore, two works worth Rs 7.52 crore from the water supply department, drainage works worth Rs 6.79 crore, work pertaining to medical services worth Rs 1.50 crore, two works worth Rs 2.10 crore from the electricity department and five works worth Rs 12.33 crore related to the fire brigade.

Speaking to TOI, an official from the NMC said, "Infrastructure works like roads, bridges and drainages, which require 15 to 18 months, are being undertaken first, while those that can be completed in a short period will be undertaken eight to 10 months before the commencement of the Kumbh mela next year.

In October 2013, the apex committee of the state government on Kumbh, headed by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, had approved a plan of Rs 2,378.71 crore for the district, including Rs 1,052.61 crore for the NMC. The Rs 1,052.61-crore Kumbh plan includes Sadhugram (Rs 82.7 crore), roads (Rs 462.5 crore), bridges (Rs 24 crore), temporary parking and toilets (Rs 55 crore), water supply management (Rs 96.23 crore), sewage treatment management (Rs 29.25 crore), medical services (Rs 31.58 crore), sanitary and health-related services (Rs 20 crore), electricity management (Rs 27.35 crore), fire brigade (Rs 24 crore) and land acquisition (Rs 200 crore).

The Kumbh mela is scheduled to commence on July 14, 2015.