BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) has now been entrusted with the responsibility of dealing with all cases of malpractice relating to the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). The move comes in the wake of repeated complaints registered at various police stations across the city not been accorded any priority.
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Secretary of BWSSB Krishtagouda Tayannavar told Express, “The two vigilance squads constituted by the Board in January 2017 had booked 787 complaints in stations against individuals indulging in various kinds of malpractices relating to utilising water supplied by us.”
These complaints were lodged between February and October last year. “We have no idea how many FIRs have been registered by the police in connection with our complaints,” he said.
The cases were not given much priority by police as they were dealing with many other crimes, Tayannavar pointed out.
Another official said the cases were booked in a category termed ‘Miscellaneous’ by the police.
“In order to treat these cases with more seriousness, the responsibility has now been entrusted with the BMTF recently,” he added.
Vigilance Squad (I) identified 109 incidents of malpractice and booked police cases against 72 families while Vigilance Squad (II) identified 769 cases and booked cases against 715 of them, the CAO said.
Lakshmi Ganesh, Superintendent of BMTF, said, “The need to have an exclusive force to cater to complaints pertaining to BWSSB, BDA and BBMP was proposed long ago.” The BMTF is now inquiring into one specific case. “It is about a water tanker being destroyed at Telecom Layout by miscreants. We are holding a detailed inquiry into it,” he added.
Tayannavar said the work by the vigilance squads was already showing good results. “Word has spread that cases are getting booked and there is a fear among those indulging in malpractices,” he said. The BWSSB is also carrying out separate inquiries against its employees who have indulged in malpractices, he added.