BBMP trashes Rs 1,000 crore ‘undisclosed’ bill claims

A city-based NGO has filed a complaint with the chief secretary, accusing the BBMP of approving bills worth Rs 1,000 crore without disclosing the specifics on the Integrated Finance Management Services (IFMS) portal.

The Right to Information Study Centre, an NGO of RTI activists, also claimed citizens did not have access to the portal for the last one month.

"Bogus bills have been paid to select contractors bypassing the procedure of uploading the documents on the IFMS portal," the complaint stated.

The BBMP, however, dubbed these charges as ‘bogus’.

"So far, we have paid about Rs 120 crore for administrative and maintenance expenses and another Rs 350 crore for other works. All payments in the BBMP are done through IFMS only," said BBMP Special Commissioner Jayaram Raipura.

Raipura said the IFMS was blocked 72 hours before the election, from May 6, to avoid any unwarranted payments. "The IFMS site was turned off (during the elections). It has been re-opened today," he said.

"Linking this to any other conclusion is malicious and misleading. The BBMP finances are being run in the most transparent, accountable and rule-bound manner," he said.