Home Minister K.J. George on Thursday informed the Legislative Council that he would issue a direction not to post 33 engineers of BBMP to executive positions. The engineers were indicted by the CID in the multi-crore scam in works reported between 2008 and 2011.
He was responding to a calling attention motion by M.R. Seetharam on the progress of investigations and action taken against the guilty. Mr. George said the palike had lodged a complaint with the CID with regard to scams in works undertaken in Gandhinagar, Malleswaram and Rajarajeshwari Nagar divisions, based on the report by the Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) of the BBMP.
In all, 33 charge sheets related to 48 works in the three divisions have been filed by the CID before the magistrate courts concerned, against 33 engineers and 31 contractors. Investigation in respect of 189 works is under progress, the Minister said.
Since the CID did not have the technical expertise to investigate, it had sought the services of nine engineers and six auditors.
However, its demand was not fulfilled and hence, the investigation was going slow, he said.
Mr. Seetharam demanded that the contractors concerned should also be blacklisted. Intervening, Janata Dal (Secular) Floor Leader M.C. Nanaiah said if works undertaken in all the 28 divisions of BBMP were to be investigated, the scam would cross Rs. 10,000 crore. V. Somanna said BBMP chief engineer N. Devaraj, who headed the TVCC, had to quit due to constant harassment after unearthing the scam. He also questioned the worthiness of Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd. (KRIDL) to execute works in Bangalore as it does not have its own machinery.
