Coming down heavily on the BBMP, Vice-president of Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), T V Mohandas Pai, on Friday, declared on his blog titled, ‘Save Bangalore’ that the new CM should step in and not accept the resignation of honest officials and put corporators in their place with a Lokayukta inquiry. As an alternative, he suggested that the council can be superceded.
His comments come in the light of a recent decision by the BBMP commissioner to stop works to the tune of over Rs 500 crore after an investigation by N Devaraj, chief engineer of the BBMP’s vigilance cell revealed many scams.
Confirming that the blog was written by him, but in no way reflects the opinion of the B.PAC, Pai told ‘Express’: “We have to reclaim our city. There is a need for superceding the BBMP. We currently have a rotten city, with garbage all over the place. What have the corporators done in the last four years? ”
There is no other remedy because the BBMP has been taken over by ‘corrupt corporators,’ he said and added that it requires reforms, along the lines of the Kasturirangan report, which recommends breaking the corporation into three of four, change laws and have a full-time mayor, he said. K Jairaj, trustee and secretary of B.PAC and former BBMP commissioner, said that while he agreed with Pai’s statements, he does not think that superceding the BBMP is the solution. “The law does not allow it. The BBMP is an elected body and it cannot be superceded without proper reason. In this case, while there is a lot of corruption, administrative reforms, a good leadership and a strong message to the BBMP by protecting honest officers is what is needed,” he said.
Pai’s statements opened another can of worms, with corporators demanding what right he had to demand BBMP’s supercession. “Here is a man who took tax rebates from the government. He needed us when they were setting up their businesses and now he wants to supercede us. They do not even want Electronics City to be a part of the BBMP, but they want all the benefits from the government without paying their taxes,” said former deputy mayor S Harish.
He added that he supported Devaraj and had requested him to withdraw the resignation. “There are regulations and work orders are already given. Think of the contractors who too have families to look after,” he added. Opposition leader M K Gunashekar pointed out that even during the rule of the ‘babus’, there was corruption. “Just because there is corruption, one cannot supercede the BBMP. It is left to the government to see if there is any truth, after verifying it. Devaraj is quitting because of political indifference. In order to make the BBMP function properly, there are steps that can be taken. What is the use of superceeding? Was there no corruption during the three years that officers were in charge of the BBMP?” he questioned.
Further he said that the BBMP needs good leaders, pre-audit, maintain road history, e-governance strengthened and implemented. “Not all officers in the BBMP are honest and not all corporators are corrupt, he said.