CM takes BMP to task

CM takes BMP to task
Deccan Herald

Chief Minister N Dharam Singh donned the role of a hard taskmaster on Tuesday, unleashing his fury at the “erring” Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) for not meeting the deadlines for road improvement.....

Chief Minister N Dharam Singh donned the role of a hard taskmaster on Tuesday, unleashing his fury at the “erring” Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) for not meeting the deadlines for road improvement. And the BMP, like sheepish schoolchildren, promised to pull up their socks and brought out new deadlines for giving a facelift to Bangalore’s roads, at the review meeting called by Mr Singh on ‘Bangalore City Development’.

Mr Singh began the two-hour meeting on an angry note, clarifying to the officials of the BMP, BDA, BWSSB, PWD and police that “I have not come here for powerpoint presentations.”

“That Bangalore’s roads are bad is not an exaggeration. Why are the pending roadworks not getting completed by the BMP? This will be my last meeting with you if you don’t take any action in future,” he thundered. However, Mr Singh’s comments suggested that he was unaware of the fact that the BMP had, in fact, re-tendered the roadworks for 103 packages eight times, but did not receive any proper response from the contractors.

Flinging accusations at the BMP, Mr Singh said: “Following the floods in October, several development projects were planned. Then, why has nothing happened till now? Is it because of lack of funds, or is it because of political interference?

Tell me when the roads will get done,” he demanded.

The chief minister also offered to take Urban Development Secretary Shamim Banu, BMP Commissioner K Jothiramalingam and BDA Commissioner M N Vidyashankar to Hyderabad, “and show you how well-maintained their roads are”.

However, according to Mr Jothiramalingam, the delay in roadworks was because of lack of response to the earlier tenders called by the BMP for the second asphalting package, covering 1,000 km.

He added that the BMP has re-notified the tender for the last time on January 10, and the last date of receipt of tender is February 3. “If we still do not get a response, we want the government to give us exemption from the Karnataka Transparency Act, so that we can give bigger packages to major construction companies,” he said.

The BMP fixed the new deadline for completion of roadworks for July. Meanwhile, Mr Singh, said “come what may”, roadworks should begin by March end and be completed on schedule.