Palike’s turn to face the music
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) novel way of beating drums in front of the residences and offices of major property tax defaulters to recover dues backfired on Monday morning.
The BBMP was meted out with similar humiliation when contractors led by their president R J Srinivas swarmed into the Palike office and took out a drum-beating procession demanding payment of pending bills.
The protesters who carried placards and staged dharna in front of the main building, raised slogans against the special commissioner and called for the fulfilment of other demands too. They also condemned the officers’ apathetic behaviour.
Later, the contractors submitted a memorandum to BBMP Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda. They demanded Palike to immediately release all their dues and abolish the policy of revalidation, which was delaying the release of their payments.
They also demanded that the TVCC (Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner) probe should be conducted when the work is in progress and not after the submission of final bills.
The Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) should get contracts through participation in tendering process like any other contractor, they added. They also demanded that all the works should be carried out through e-procurement and not e-tendering.
Probe should be conducted into the works allotted by the officers of Forest and Horticulture departments, protesters said, alleging that the officers threw to wind all the rules and regulations, while assigning the jobs to their near and dear ones.
