Garbage scam triggers war of words
A war of words has ensued between the Deputy Mayor S Harish and JD(S) floor leader in the BBMP Council - Padmanabha Reddy - over the alleged garbage scam.
Reddy had stated a few days ago in a press conference that the BJP-led BBMP had violated the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act and the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act by awarding contracts for garbage clearance without floating tenders in seven zones of the Palike, except Bommanahalli.
He had pointed out that in the last 18 months, contractors were paid Rs 121 crore illegally. The confusion over garbage contract was created intentionally to misappropriate funds. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Harish refuted the allegations made by Reddy.
He said the Palike had no choice but to continue the garbage contract for three months even after its termination, in the absence of any response to the tenders for solid waste management.
“The heaps of garbage forced the Palike to award piece work for garbage disposal to the existing contractors,” said Harish.
Rules followed
The deputy mayor justified Palike’s decision saying the contracts were awarded as per the PWD Code.
“The jurisdictional engineers are entitled to pay an additional amount up to 15 per cent after getting a nod from the higher authorities,” said Harish. He went on to claim that the Palike commissioner had given written approval.
Padmanabha Reddy was quick to trash Harish’s claims and asserted he stood by his allegations. He said the documents he possessed were self-explanatory. The JD-S leader said he had made up his mind to file a case before Lokayukta against violation of rules to benefit garbage contractors.
BBMP Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda said the Palike would not buckle under any pressure from garbage contractors. He said the contractors should pay salaries through cheques, ensure provident fund and ESI facilities to the Pourakarmikas.
