BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed the BBMP Commissioner to continue their encroachment removal drive.
Reviewing a meeting with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) here on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah asked the commissioner why the drive was stopped. The commissioner informed him that the surveyors had gone back to their parent departments. To this the CM directed the surveyors be deputed to continue the work.
He instructed the BBMP officials to complete the ongoing civil works worth Rs 7,300 crore by March 2017. He warned the engineers of action in case of any delay. The CM directed that the TenderSURE road works be completed by July 2017.
According to the BBMP Commissioner, Rs 7,300 crore was allotted under the Nagarotthana scheme. Of this, Rs 3,208 crore was allotted for 2016-17 and Rs 4,092 crore for the next year.
TenderSURE works at Gandhinagar, Kalasipalya, Brigade Road, Church Street, Malleswaram and Palace Road will begin in February, for which a detailed project report is being prepared. He also said that the Kittur Rani Chennamma grade separator on Outer Ring Road will be completed by the first week of January. Also, the signal-free corridor at Okalipura is expected to be completed by December 2017.
BDA engineer gifted Hublot to CM, claims activist
Bengaluru : Social activist Abraham T J on Wednesday said the Hublot watch that had landed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in trouble was gifted to him by an engineer with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), and not by a Dubai-based doctor friend as claimed by the CM. After the controversy, he declared it as a government property and handed it over to the Assembly Speaker. That put an end to the political controversy, but the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ABC) is investigating a case filed by a social activist. On Wednesday, Abraham questioned the CM’s claim and said a BDA engineer, who purchased three watches by paying B45 lakh each from National Market in Bengaluru. One of them was gifted to the CM, he claimed. When contacted, the BDA engineer said, “I do not know anything about those allegations. You please ask the person who is making them.”