Rs 1,367 crore spent on SWDs in 10 years but no progress yet

The funds and resources for storm water drain (SWD) work across the city seems to be going down the drain as there has hardly been any progress in the last 10 years.

Following widespread flooding over the last few days, DH did a reality check on the status report of SWD work across the city.

Any guess on how much the central and state governments have spent on SWD work for the past 10 years? It is a whopping Rs 1,367.05 crore since 2006, according to documents provided by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Of the 842-kilometre stretch of construction and remodelling work taken up on SWDs, only 177 kilometres has been completed till now.

One of the main reasons for the flash floods in the city is the haphazard work of SWDs. These SWDs are encroached upon by private land owners, their retaining walls damaged and garbage accumulated in the drains, leading to reverse flow of water and water-logging in the nearby areas.

So far, the government has allotted about Rs 2,207.33 crore under JNNURM, 14th Finance Commission, BBMP and Nagarothana grants. Of this, already Rs 1,367.05 crore has been spent. The SWD work has been divided into six packages and interestingly, though Rs 6.59 crore has been spent in Koramangala under Nagarothana scheme, the work is still incomplete.

Questioned about the huge gap between the target and the actual construction work, officials cite a lot of reasons. Chief engineer, SWD of BBMP, Bettegowda HT said, “It takes a lot of time to research and undertake the work. Issuing tenders is an elaborate process. Sometimes, it might get delayed due to land acquisition problems.”

The process of auditing has also not been done for about two years according to M K Gunashekar, chairman, Tax and Finance Standing committee, BBMP. “All these years, the auditing has been going on and there is transparency. However, we might have missed it for the last two years or so,” said Gunashekar.

Meanwhile, there is a huge scam behind this storm water drain work, say opposition party leaders. “The officials inflate the bills even if they just desilt the drain. When a city like Chennai which is at a lower altitude can withstand the rains, why can’t Bangalore?” asked Padmanabha Reddy, opposition party leader, BBMP.

Reacting to the statement, Bettegowda said, “It is only our government which has given so much of importance to the construction of SWDs. If the previous government had taken enough measures, we would not have been in this situation.”