CM to take final call on guilty Palike officials

The Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will take the final call on the action to be taken against Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officers found guilty in the multi-crore garbage scam.

Speaking to Deccan Herald on Friday, Transport and District-in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, “The report on the scam prepared by the Technical Vigilance Cell working under the Commissioner (TVCC) of the BBMP is yet to be sent to the State government officially. Presently, the report is with the Joint Commissioner (Health), Yathish Kumar. The next course of action will be decided by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The report is yet to reach him.”

According to the TVCC report, BBMP officials were hand-in- glove with private garbage contractors and swindled at least Rs 161 crore. The investigation report said that BBMP spent Rs 631.41 crore in 22 months on garbage clearance between January 1, 2013 and October 31, 2014.

Gross violations

The report mentioned gross violations such as use of vehicles made before 2006 for garbage collection, non-issuance of identity cards to those employed for garbage clearance, holding back of insurance funds and provident funds that were supposed to be paid to contract employees and misuse of funds by contractors among others.

Further, the TVCC report has suggested departmental enquiries against officials for dereliction of duty, recovery of funds from engineers and other officials in the accounts section and a complete makeover of garbage management.  Palike Commissioner M Lakshminarayana was unavailable for comments.