Continuing the probe spree, the BJP government headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa ordered probes into two mega projects and scrapped tenders for a third on Monday.
Mr. Yediyurappa ordered a probe into Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and the underground dustbin scheme, and scrapped tenders floated for the elevated corridor road (ECR) project. The total cost of these three projects was ₹9,572.11 crore.
In orders issued by the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar was told to complete the probes within two months. With this, the total number of probes ordered by the BJP government into projects/schemes of previous governments touched nine, a record of sorts in recent decades.
The PMAY and underground dustbin scheme were implemented during the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, while tenders for the ECR were floated during the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. The PMAY scheme, which is largely funded by the Centre (₹2,661.84 crore), was implemented to provide ‘Housing for All’ to economically weaker sections of all castes and communities.The State government-owned Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDL) floated tenders for the first phase of the 21.54-km ECR project (₹6,855 crore) in Bengaluru. Following reports of irregularities and public complaints in the tendering process and the action plan prepared for the project, the Chief Minister has scrapped the tenders floated for ECR. The underground dustbin scheme, was implemented by ty he State’s richest civic body — the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) — spending ₹55.27 crore during 2016-17. The objective of the scheme was for collection of garbage in 200 locations in different parts of the city. It was alleged that funds were siphoned off and dustbins were not kept in more than 10% of the identified places.
Earlier, the government had ordered investigation by the CBI into three cases and inquiries into at least four schemes launched by the previous Siddaramaiah regime and the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government.
