Let’s have an SIT to probe all BDA scams

Lack of punitive action has emboldened BDA officials to commit offences regularly

The Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has always been a cesspool of corruption, with one scandal after another tumbling out of its cupboards with unfailing regularity, irrespective of which political party is in power. The BDA, which came into existence in 1976 as a successor to the erstwhile City Improvement Trust Board (CITB), has been charged with development of Bengaluru in a planned manner and creating quality infrastructure. Its vision, as articulated on its website, is to transform Bengaluru into an ideal global destination with high-quality infrastructure and to ensure better quality of life though sustainable and planned development based on effective monitoring and regulation, through a participatory and innovative approach. Far from this, over the years, the BDA has itself emerged as a millstone around the neck of Bengaluru and its citizens. In fact, the BDA, along with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), is largely responsible for most of the woes the capital city is facing today. The latest BDA scandal is the illegal conversion of 94 civic amenity (CA) sites spread over 64 acres into residential plots in the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout. CA sites are meant to provide playgrounds, parks and other civic amenities.

According to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, an internal report by the BDA has stated that 31 engineers and seven surveyors were responsible for the illegal conversion. Though Shivakumar has assured action against the officers, given the track record of successive governments, it is likely to remain a hollow promise. Those accused of corruption and offences in the past have gone scot-free. In 2017, a BDA staffer had forged the signature of his superiors and had ‘allotted’ 14 sites that were reserved for the poor. Last year, BDA officers had colluded with touts and rigged an online sale of sites to favour some buyers. Sometime ago, a few officers had set up a parallel BDA office in a private building from where they issued allotment letters using the stationary and official seal of the BDA.

The list of scandals in the BDA is so long that one has lost count of them. What has emboldened the officers is that no government has so far taken serious note of the charges against them. The BDA, after all, is considered a milch cow from which politicians of all parties also benefit. The Siddaramaiah government, which came to power promising to curb corruption, should set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to exclusively probe all BDA scams and bring the guilty to book. Unless at least a few top officers are held to account, the BDA is not going to change its ways.