In a curious case, the State government, which provides funding to the local bodies, appears to have indirectly caused a loss to the BBMP.
An advertisement agency had forfeited Rs. 25.2 crore, deposited as earnest money, for failing to sign an agreement with the civic body even two years after the agency was given the work order by the BBMP for putting up LED display screens in seven different places. The work order was issued in January 2008 after the agency bagged the tender, pointed out N.R. Ramesh, Yediyur councillor. The agency had also failed to pay ground rent of Rs. 12.32 lakh to the BBMP for 41 bus shelters, he added.
In 2010, the agency contacted the BBMP and sought a change in the places for the LED display screens. The then Commissioner Siddaiah rejected the request. Later, the BBMP council resolved that the agency had forfeited the Rs. 25.2 crore paid to the civic body.
Mr Siddaiah had then maintained that had the BBMP handed the tender to the second highest bidder, whose bid amount was Rs. 20.01 crore, the BBMP could have earned Rs. 40.02 crore over two years.
Mr. Ramesh, who raised the issue in the BBMP Council meeting on Monday, said that the agency put pressure on the BBMP through the government seeking refund of the money they had forfeited. The Additional Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department directed BBMP to refund the money to the agency. The council, once again, passed a resolution in 2012 that the agency had forfeited the amount and it could not be refunded.
The agency questioned the resolution and went to court. “The case is still pending in court. However, the file put up by officials of the advertisement department seeking refund of the forfeited amount came to Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan recently, who sought legal opinion,” Mr. Ramesh said. The legal cell officials did not mention that the case is still being heard and maintained that the money could be refunded. The BBMP refunded Rs. 13.06 crore to the agency, Mr Ramesh revealed.
He sought to know how the forfeited amount could be refunded despite the council’s resolutions. He maintained that the BBMP has incurred a loss of Rs. 157 crore over six years.
Responding to the charge, the head of BBMP’s Legal Cell K.D. Deshpande maintained that while suppression of information is not an offence, in this case, it amounts to dereliction of duty.
Based on Mr. Ramesh’s complaint, an FIR has been lodged against four BBMP officials by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF).
