Rs 111 cr spent on drains in HSR Layout over 5 years; ‘it's all gone down the drain’

Guess how much money did the BBMP spend on fixing, remodelling and maintaining drains in just one ward in the past five years? A whopping Rs 111.54 crore. The irony is that there isn’t much on the ground to show it was money well spent.

The expenditure was revealed during a private audit carried out by the Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), a political start-up that aims to contest the upcoming BBMP polls.

The party is studying funds allocated and spent by the BBMP on various civic works as part of its #LekkaBeku campaign. As per the BNP’s analysis, the civic body allocated Rs 126 crore for drain works in HSR Layout from 2016 to 2021. The works relate to maintenance, remodelling and improvement of drains.

During the period, the BBMP claims to have carried out 70 drain-related works worth Rs 97 crore while another 12 projects worth Rs 4.2 crore are currently under construction. The rest of the money was spent on other related works.

But despite spending crores of taxpayers’ money, the BNP suggested, there is “no tangible output on the ground”.

“Despite such an enormous amount of money being spent on these ward-level drain projects, there is absolutely no tangible outcome on the ground,” the party stated. “It looks like the money has literally gone down the drain. There is no transparency or accountability in these projects being undertaken by BBMP.”

To buttress its point, the party shared photographs of unclean drains at 20th Main, Sector 1, incomplete drainworks at 22nd ‘B’ Main Road and 22nd ‘C’ Main Road of Sector 1 and debris blocking the stormwater drain at 5th Main.

Lalithamba B V, the BNP’s area sabha member for HSR Layout, specified why the BBMP didn’t do its job properly. “A 2021 audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), an independent watchdog, shows that the SWD Department does not maintain records like work registers or the progress reports of works. It does not ask contractors to submit the final drawings of the works done, which are essential before making the payment. Many works are passed off as emergency works without calling the tenders. The department has on occasion even paid twice for the same work,” she said.

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