BANGALORE: There is no sign of completion of any development work undertaken by the BBMP though the current fiscal (2011-12) is ending in just two months. Meanwhile, it is said that most of the works, including ward-level works, announced in the budget may not materialise at all.
BBMP Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda had to release grants for ward-level works. However, the files related to the ward works are yet to get approval from the Standing Committee (Ward works).
It may be mentioned here that the BBMP had presented a budget of Rs 9,380 crore in August 2011 (It was termed ‘Unrealistic’ by some sections). The government took nearly three months to approve the budget with some terms and conditions.
Recently, the Commissioner had announced that BBMP would not take up any new works as per the State government’s direction. However, he said they would to take up ward-level works with Rs 2 crore grants to old wards and Rs 3 crore to new wards. However, nothing has been done so far. According to a Congress Councillor, all the files related to ward-level works are with the Standing Committee (Ward works). “The Commissioner had announced that grants will be released to each ward. This news appeared in media too. But the announcement is still on the paper. People in my locality look at me suspiciously. I tried telling them the Standing Committee is yet to approve the grants,but in vain,” the Councillor said.
Another Councillor said, first of all this year’s budget was presented late. Moreover, it was an ‘unrealistic’ budget, he felt. Now when the government has clarified and told BBMP not to take up new works, at least the ward-level works could have been taken up. “The Committee is not interested in taking up the works. Once, the Committee approves, BBMP should invite tenders to issue work orders. This will take some more days. In another two months, the current financial year will come to end and when that is the case, it looks like a distant dream,” Councillor said.
No End to Blame game
When contacted, Chairman of the Standing Committee (Ward Works) Mohan Kumar said, he is yet to receive files related to ward works. All the files are with Special Commissioner K R Niranjan. A senior official from BBMP said that Standing Committee (Ward works) meets on Thursdays. “Jan 19, is not possible for them to meet due to some technical problem and the next Thursday is Republic day. So even if the Special Commissioner sends files to the Committee, they will not sit till Feb 2,” he added. Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor S Harish has blamed it on Engineers. “A couple of weeks ago, the Commissioner had directed Assistant Engineers of all 198 wards to submit the Programme of Work related to their wards by Jan 15. The deadline is over and many of the engineers are yet to submit the documents. Once they submit, it will take a day to sign the files,” he said.