Vigilance panel uncovers Palike engineers' 'fraud'

The Technical Vigilance Committee under the Commissioner (TVCC) of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has unearthed several cases of duplication of civic works and superfluous projects taken up in Rajarajeshwarinagar.

Documents accessed by Deccan Herald under the Right To Information (RTI) Act show that the Palike engineers had proposed 72 projects relating to construction of RCC drains by the roadside, at an estimated cost of Rs 14.4 crore.

The team, during its visit, found that the slab stones were constructed, replacing the existing Burnt Stone (BS) slab drains that were functional and in good condition. The engineers wanted the existing drains to be removed only to take up the projects on RCC drains.

The team also observed that the location mentioned in the estimate did not tally with the proposed site of work. Also, the provisions were made without technical justification. The team found that no provision was made in the estimate to reuse the removed slab stones.

What was more intriguing for the TVCC team was that in Ward-72, the proposals were submitted for the works that were already completed. In Ward-129, the estimates were prepared by the local engineers without any field visit, the TVCC noted.

Duplication

While inspecting the proposed construction of a culvert at Kurilingappa Layout in Ward-72, Herohalli sub-division, at an estimated cost of Rs 15 lakh, the TVCC team came to know that the road was developed by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). It had even constructed the culvert.

“It is an apparent case of duplication of work. This work should be frozen with immediate effect,” the TVCC team noted in the report.

In the same ward, the BBMP local engineers had prepared an estimate of Rs 19.90 lakh for the construction of bridges on storm water drain at Naagaraholenagara. The team was shocked to see that the bridge was already constructed by the Storm Water Drain (SWD) division of the BBMP while remodeling the SWD.

The team also found out that most of the single projects were divided into many minor works in such a fashion that none of the estimate could touch Rs 20 lakh. The plan was apparently to escape the e-procurement route, which is comparatively more transparent than the existing system in the Palike.