BBMP officials windling funds: Padmanabha Reddy

Bengaluru: Opposition party leader in the  BBMP council,  Padmanabha Reddy,  on Saturday accused BBMP officials of  misusing taxpayers’ money.
Speaking to reporters here, Mr Reddy said the BBMP claimed to have spent Rs 11 crore on supplying  borewell water to the J.P Park ward in Rajarajeshwar Nagar, when it had no shortage of drinking water.

“Cauvery water is  supplied in the ward and so there is no water crisis here. However, the BBMP has taken up 22 works, each costing Rs 50 lakh and amounting to Rs 11 crore, to supply the people water. When the newly-added 110 villages to city limits are facing a water crisis, the BBMP is spending money on areas that don’t need its intervention, ” he charged.  

Claiming there was clear misappropriation of funds in J.P Park, Mr Reddy argued that even if the BBMP  spent Rs 2 lakh per km on installing HDPE plastic pipelines for borewell water supply over the 50 km stretch of roads in the ward, the project should not cost it more than Rs 1 crore. “ Then why is the BBMP spending Rs 11 crore?” he asked.

Also, although one Mr N.Murthy had filed a complaint with former BBMP administrator,  T.M Vijay Bhaskar, drawing  his attention to various scams in road relaying work,  no action had been taken, he regretted. “Mr Bhaskar merely transferred the case to the TVCC.

Although it’s been a year, the BBMP officials have not submitted files related to the road works and have refused to co-operate with the TVCC officials,” he charged, adding that when the BBMP officials' lack of cooperation was brought to the notice of BBMP commissioner, G.Kumar Naik,  he too failed to take action.

Mr Reddy said it was now upto Chief  Minister Siddaramaiah to intervene and pull  up the erring officials.

Panel for garbage processing plants

Following numerous protests at garbage processing plants on the outskirts of the city, the state government has directed the setting up of a steering committee to ensure that the plants are functioning efficiently.

Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George will head the committee, while Agriculture Minister Krishna Byregowda will be the vice-chairman.

The committee will also comprise mayor, deputy mayor, additional chief secretary (Urban Development), general secretary (Finance), BBMP commissioner, city police commissioner, all the zonal joint commissioners and other members. The committee will henceforth hold monthly meetings and review garbage management in the city.