Councillors took BBMP officials to task during the council meeting on Friday for alleged lapses and irregularities.
Among them, the former Deputy Mayor S. Harish came armed with documents to support his allegations.
He alleged that officials in the Town Planning Department had failed to verify information submitted by builders while sanctioning plans. Furnishing some documents, he said that some builders had changed the mean sea level figure. He alleged that officials failed to cross-check such submissions during spot inspections after sanctioning the plan.
False information
“Town planning officials, in fact, prompt builders to introduce false information to sanction plans,” he alleged adding, “Recording lesser mean sea level in a plan allows the builder to put up additional floors and helps them earn more money. It also helps them while seeking a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Airports Authority of India (AAI).”
He cited the example of two developers, who had declared at least 17 to 18 metres extra. “With this the builders will construct several extra floors and make profits in crores,” he said.
The response
Responding to this allegation, BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan said that the sanctioned plan of one of the builders had been withdrawn and, for the other builder, it would be revoked. He promised action against officials who had failed to perform their duties.
Wipro issue
Councillors urged Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana not to offer any concession in property tax to Wipro Ltd. Members of the Finance and Taxation Standing Committee said that representatives of Wipro had made BBMP officials wait for several hours on Thursday when they went to seek payment of the dues. In response, the Mayor, accompanied by councillors, offered to meet the representatives of the company and seek payment of the dues.
Wipro has disputed the Rs. 16.40 crore claim of the BBMP, which the civic body is the dues for the last two years.
Medical grants
Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana said that the BBMP would look into applications for medical grants and fix suitable amounts for different ailments. He ordered the Commissioner to release Rs. 5 crore to the Mayor’s office for disbursement.
Pending applications
His decision came soon after R. Prakash, Janata Dal (Secular) floor leader, claimed that nearly 4,000 applications were pending at with the Mayor’s office and several people had been regularly calling on councillors with a request to get their medical bills cleared.
