The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) move to freeze the development projects across the city that have been approved but yet to begin, seems to have stirred a hornet’s nest.
The city’s MLAs have already begun contacting the senior BBMP officials to stress on the importance of a particular work in their respective constituencies, BBMP sources said.
All projects that had not been taken up despite being approved and work codes issued have been frozen. These works include projects approved at the zonal level and at the head office pertaining to storm water drains, major roads, lakes and even programme of works approved for the various wards. A circular to this effect was recently issue by BBMP commissioner G. Kumar Naik.
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“The move by the BBMP commissioner may be a good step for transparency, but it spells bad for the city as it is almost time for the monsoon. There are many emergency works like clearing storm water drains and filling potholes, which if stopped will only take the city to the dogs this monsoon,” said B.N. Vijay Kumar, MLA of Jayanagar.
The official, however, justified that it could be assumed that the work was not necessary, if it had not been taken up even months after being approved. The list of such “unnecessary works” are being compiled and submitted to the Commissioner’s office. The sources said that it may take another 15 days to freeze all these works.
In the circular, Mr. Naik has directed the accounts officers to ensure that all bills were cleared online after the Technical Vigilance Cell under the Commissioner conducts a pre-audit.
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Most importantly, the circular has also stayed all the Letters of Credit issued to the contractors whose bills are pending. Since the new works will be cleared online, the bill register (BR) number will be generated automatically. The bills will have to be cleared chronologically based on the new BR numbers.
Stating that the primary intention of the move was to bring in financial discipline and transparency to the bankrupt civic body, Mr. Naik said that if anybody, including BBMP officials, felt that a particular project was essential, then a separate proposal for the work may be submitted.
Citizens can now keep a track of the development works being taken up in their areas/wards with just a click of the button. To make public administration more transparent, all the details of the projects are now being uploaded on the BBMP website. Along with this, road history with details such as when it was asphalted, and an inventory of BBMP’s properties are published on the website.