No method to BMP madness: HC expert panel

No method to BMP madness: HC expert panel
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The first bi-monthly report of the expert committee appointed by Karnataka High Court for monitoring completed and ongoing road works in the city has come up with sharp comments on the quality standards practised by Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP).

The 130-page report placed before the High Court Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice B Padmaraj and Justice V Jagannathan has stated that ad-hocism has been rampant in most BMP dealings and the yardsticks for selecting contractors for road works had been progressively diluted. The BMP had engaged contractors who did not possess the required machinery for delivering quality work, it said.

The Expert Committee, appointed following a PIL from advocate K N Subba Reddy, has placed its report on record of the High Court. The court permitted A V Amaranathan, counsel for the petitioner, to peruse the report and file suggestions for follow-up action in this regard by December 16.

The report contains about 1,000 photographs and maps of the roads inspected by the committee headed by former Engineer-in-Chief Capt S Raja Rao and also the documents pertaining to the contracts of road works.

The report said BMP engineers were using their own observations in preparing estimates and single tenders were being received encouraging monopoly and formation of cartels which dictate terms to BMP.

The report also said that many BMP engineers and officials did not possess the basic handbook published by the Indian Road Congress and were not conversant with relevant provisions of Transparency Act.

The report said the BMP had not taken the adverse remarks made about the quality of work by consultants seriously and had made payments thus perpetuating poor quality of work.

The report said the analysis report of the third party agency on quality of works had been considered a postmortem report. The committee has also recommended priority for providing tertiary drainage which is now under gross neglect and implementation of Transparency Act while processing and awarding contracts for works, consultancy services and third party inspection.