No lessons learnt from fake bills scam

Notorious for the bogus works and scams of different kinds, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) continues its old practices even today without taking any lessons from the past.

Recently, when BJP corporator of Yediyur ward, N R Ramesh claimed another fake bill scam in the Gandhinagar Assembly constituency, represented by Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao, the BBMP commissioner rubbished it calling it a misunderstanding borne out of 'some small procedural lapses'.

The small lapse was in fact, a deliberate violation of BBMP's affidavit to the High Court that it will not allow works using 'Letter of Intent'. To sum up what 'Letter of Intent' is, it is basically an internal arrangement of the BBMP engineers and contractors to carry out work without seeking permission of the higher ups and whenever, the engineers and contractors landed in trouble due to non-execution or substandard work, they would then hurry to get due approvals from their bosses.

The fake bill scam basically originated due to 'Letter of Intent'. This was apart from BBMP's substandard works in Bangalore.

In one case, the BBMP engineers asphalted a road in Jalahalli which was different from the one mentioned in the work order. Deccan Herald had published the report on July 9, 2011 pointing to the embezzlement of Rs two crore. The report triggered a storm in the BBMP as two engineers were suspended while action was recommended against 12 others. Later, the mega fake-bill scam worth Rs 1,539 crore in three assembly constituencies of Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Malleswaram was exposed in October 2011, which had happened between 2007 and 2010.

The pattern of the fake bill scam was similar. It was basically civic works pertaining to road asphalting and footpath construction were submitted to three different civic agencies viz. BBMP, BWSSB and the BDA. For example, at Bhuvaneshwari Nagar in Bagalagunte, a road was asphalted on December 6, 2010 but the contractors submitted bills to the BBMP as well as the BDA claiming that they asphalted road in 2009. Both the agencies obliged the contractor and cleared the bills.

A BBMP engineer associated with the vigilance department said that if the road history was in place, such irregularities would have been avoided. Road history provides a unique identity number to each and every road which will have all details about the length and breadth of the road and works carried out in the area. If linked to the BESCOM, BWSSB and the forest department, it will provide information about the number of electric poles, trees and manholes.

Duplication of work

The fake bill scam was about duplication of civic works, and in many cases, work not carried out at all. It is also about shoddy work. The enormity of the scam was estimated to be in the range of Rs 25,000 crore although the State government had not agreed with the figure. An initial probe into 153 of the 10,960-odd Bill Registers of three Assembly constituencies - Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Malleswaram and Gandhinagar - revealed that a whopping Rs 1,539 crore was squandered. Engineers manufactured a requirement of work in some area on paper.

 They would show that some work had taken place in the area and then in connivance with contractors, ensured they got full payment. Much of the fake bills scam took place in 2008-09 when it had become apparent that elections to the local bodies were imminent. Many contractors, who had set their eyes on tickets to contest the BBMP elections, were in dire need of money. They greased the palms of engineers, bureaucrats and leaders and got money in excess, Palike insiders had said. Apart from the work completion reports that were questionable enough, engineers submitted photos of the completed works, which again were deceptive. 

Exposing the scam

Based on an intelligence input, then BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah had ordered the Technical Vigilance Committee under the Commissioner (TVCC) to ‘inquire’ into the works that had been carried out in Gandhinagar, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Malleswaram. The probe found that the works were undertaken without a technical feasibility test, map of the layout or drawing. The works were undertaken without taking the necessary technical and administrative approvals. Even advertisements did not appear in the manner they should have.  In many cases, only two bidders came forward to apply for the contract, which was in violation of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.

The engineers did not bother to seek revalidation from the commissioner for the spillover works. The contract and the completion certificates did not bear the signatures and seals of the competent authorities such as the assistant executive engineer, executive engineer and other superiors. Finally, the existence of multiple bills for one work laid bare the whole scam.