JOIN USBengaluru city development minister K J George has said the Bangalore Development Authority has suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 201 crore because of the mutual fund scam.
Replying to a question by BJP’s Tara Anuradha in the Council on Thursday, the minister said the BDA had transferred Rs 2,500 crore it had collected as deposit, from banks to mutual funds. This was illegal. The BDA would have earned an interest of Rs 201 crore. The accused have swindled money by investing in mutual funds, he added.
The case has been referred to the CID and three accused have been arrested. When Tara demanded that the properties of the accused should be confiscated, the minister said civic and criminal cases would be booked and the properties would be confiscated.
Metro bogies
Replying to a question by R Chowdareddy Thupalli (JD-S), George said that there has been no irregularity in the purchase of 150 train bogies by the BMRCL, which is running Namma Metro.
The minister, while admitting there has been some delay in completing the first phase of the Metro project, said the BMRCL officials were doing a good job.
BMRCL had asked the providers of bogies to purchase them through international bidding. Each bogie costs around Rs 9.85 crore and all the bogies are in good condition, the minister said.
When Reddy said 70 bogies have been purchased in excess, when BMRCL has no money to pay its employees, George argued that the bogies were required for the first phase.