BBMP publishes road history online but won't give key data

If the BBMP intended anything good by publishing road history on its website, the absence of information most relevant to the public seems to have defeated the purpose.

A long list of sections in the slow and cluttered website such as road inventory, trees and streetlights do not open. Multiple sources say it would not be difficult for the BBMP to post basic details of individual roadworks, contractor’s name, the amount spent on developing them and defect liability. Such details are easily available at the back end, the sources added.

Citizen groups, former corporators and political parties are wondering what is stopping the civic body from publishing the details especially since there is no elected council.

“All 13,000 km of roads in the city have been divided into arterial, sub-arterial and ward roads by allocating as many as 92,500 identity numbers. These IDs have details such as road length, width, size of the footpath, etc. The BBMP also has a database of money spent on a particular road over the years,” said G Manjunath Raju, former corporator from Kadu Malleshwara.

He expressed his suspicion that the BBMP is dragging its feet on publishing the road details since that might expose corruption in the system. “Giving the public access to road history data will end bogus works and double billing. It’s high time the BBMP did it to earn back people’s trust,” he said.

Rishi Raghavan, a governing council member of the Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party, said the road history project was a step towards transparency but had not been executed. “In the absence of data, contracts for the same project have been given repeatedly, misusing public money and, more crucially, stopping money from going to projects citizens badly need,” he said.

After analysing over 65,500 BBMP projects, activists find information such as the precise location and contractor details missing. “The road history project will end this mess and expose the misuse of funds,” he said.

Dr K V Thrilok Chandra, the special commissioner in the BBMP’s information technology cell, said they are working to revamp the site which would go live by the end of April.

“We are building a unified citizen connect portal with details and assets of all departments. I have been reviewing the progress every week. Once the website is ready, it will have all citizen-friendly features, including road history data,” he said.

Publishing road history is one of the directions given by the high court to the BBMP.

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