Outgoing calls for nearly 750 official mobile numbers of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have been barred since Friday evening as the civic body has not paid telephone bills for the past four months. BSNL has disconnected services, BBMP sources confirmed.
BBMP sources said bills amounting Rs. 16 lakh has been due for more than four months. BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayana told The Hindu that he would look into the matter immediately.
Sources said BBMP had indeed issued a cheque of Rs. 8 lakh on Friday but the cheque was not cleared by the Chief Accounts Officer (CAO) and hence the delay. BBMP Commissioner is said to have pulled up the CAO for not prioritising the clearance of the due payments. This comes close on the heels of LIC issuing notice to BBMP for failing to pay insurance premium remittances for nearly four months. And, Income Tax Department had recently freezed all 40 bank accounts of BBMP over a pending demand of tax payment. Last year, BBMP had also defaulted on paying the pension fund remittances.
