JOIN USFormer mayor D Venkatesh Murthy’s call for “beautification” of a park has destroyed an already beautiful lung space in Kathriguppe ward, which he represented in the BBMP Council in his previous tenure.
The work has now stopped after BBMP Administrator T M Vijay Bhaskar ordered an inquiry into the “beautification”.
BBMP sources said that as mayor, Murthy got Rs 99 lakh sanctioned for “beautification” of K S Narasimha Swamy Park, which was already in a beautiful shape. The proposal had remained in cold storage for almost a year but Murthy’s pursuance yielded results on March 3, 2014, when it was approved and the work order issued the very next day.
But work didn’t start for a year. The BBMP administrator and commissioner announced freezing of all spillover works, which had been pending for many years now. The contractors and engineers of Kathriguppe went into a tizzy, hastily removing the cobblestones and curbstones from the park.
All granite curbstones were broken to show they were of no use while the cobblestones were placed outside the park for disposal.
This destruction in the name of “beautification” affected many morning and evening walkers who complained to the BBMP top brass. They also complained to Deccan Herald about the damage to the park. The administrator has now reportedly ordered an inquiry and directed the ward engineers to immediately stop the work. A Palike engineer confirmed the work was stopped following “orders from the top”.
It is learnt the estimate of the work was restricted to Rs 99 lakh, and not Rs one crore, so as to avoid floating a tender through e-procurement, which would have gone through a lot of procedures. Besides, to avoid transparency rules, the engineers categorised it as an urgent work and assigned it to the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd, which charges 11 per cent more than the estimated cost.