The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which has been rocked by cases of alleged misappropriation of funds and misuse of tax payers' money, could well undergo a surgery of sorts to regain its financial health.
Realising the need to restore the civic body's financial health, BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah, who formed a committee on Wednesday to look into the Rs. 3,500-crore scam in sanctioning work codes, has followed it up by constituting another panel to look into the Rs. 11-crore consultancy scam.
Rs. 11-crore as fees
During the recent monthly meeting, Nagapura councillor S. Harish raised the issue of funds spent as consultancy fees. He claimed that between April 2007 and August 2010, the BBMP had spent no less than Rs. 11 crore as consultancy fees for 253 works.
He said that a week ago, he met with Mr. Siddaiah seeking details of all the works taken up during 2008-09, 2009-10, including an estimate of all the works and consultancy fees paid. He had also sought details about the third party approval accorded to these works. Mr. Siddaiah told The Hindu he had already taken serious note of the issue and formed a committee, headed by the Engineer-in-Chief, to look into the works executed during the previous two financial years. The panel is expected to submit its report within 10 days.
Crores spent
In the monthly meeting, Mr. Harish had said that the civic authority's Storm-Water Drain Department had spent Rs. 1.68 crore as consultancy charges to take up remodelling of primary and secondary drains in a few wards. The Basic Services for Urban Poor Cell had spent nearly Rs. 25 lakh, while the Major Roads Department had spent Rs. 93 lakh. He said the BBMP had spent Rs. 16.5 lakh towards consultancy for preparation of detailed project report for construction of a compound.
