JD(S) 'unearths' Rs 169-crore BBMP scam

The alleged misappropriation has reportedly taken place in the horticulture and forest departments of the municipal body.

JD(S) floor leader in the BBMP Council Padmanabha Reddy said that the scam is related to the maintenance of parks and plantation of saplings between 2008 and 2010, when an administrator ruled the civic body.

Reddy alleged that the officers had split the works in pieces to bypass the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPPA) Act, 1999 and had awarded works to contractors without calling for tenders.

As per the KTPPA, any work of more than Rs one lakh has to be implemented through e-procurement and the State government’s online portal to display the proposed works in the public domain.

“The officers had deliberately split the works in a manner that none of the works would cost more than Rs one lakh so that tenders were  not invited and no one knew about the projects being undertaken. Under the Direct Credit (DC) system, money was released for these work,” said Reddy.

The JD(S) leader alleged that though the BBMP claimed to have planted lakhs of saplings in the City and beautified many parks, it did not execute half of the work it claimed. He demanded that the Palike should make public where it had planted the saplings in the City in the last two years.

Reddy alleged the three years of maladministration of the BJP in the BBMP was primarily responsible for the series of scams.

He appealed to the BBMP commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda to come out with a White Paper on Palike’s financial health. He said the ruling BJP did all possible things to turn the BBMP a bankrupt civic body.