Get started on fixing city roads, says Dharam Singh

Get started on fixing city roads, says Dharam Singh

The Hindu

Review meeting on infrastructure held

# BMP asked to complete tender and other processes by March 31
# Contractors reluctant to participate in tender process
# BMP proposes reintroduction of octroi to shore up revenue

BANGALORE: Fresh from his sojourn in Hyderabad, Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh on Tuesday minced no words as he told the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike to "stop making excuses and get started on fixing the city's roads".

"If you wish, I will take you to Hyderabad, and arrange for an aerial view of how beautifully the roads have been done, all executed by major firms that have given best quality work." he told the BMP Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam.

Mr. Singh held a review meeting with the BMP, Bangalore Development Authority and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and officials of various departments after legislators from the city drew his attention to the main reason for the deplorable shape of the city's roads — the nexus of small-time contractors and BMP employees which has become a tangled web of bribe-taking, substandard work and loss of crores of rupees in revenue to the BMP.

It may be recalled that after a meeting with information technology and biotechnology industry representatives, a deadline of September 2005 had been set for the repair of all the roads in the city, including the ones damaged in the heavy rains earlier.

The Chief Minister warned: "This will be the last meeting. I cannot fathom what the problem is, and why the road repair and restoration works have not been completed as per deadline. Why cannot you cancel the contracts if work has not been done? I have been giving assurances and now people want to know when they will become a reality."

After a nearly three-hour meeting, Mr. Singh told presspersons that BMP has been asked to complete the tender and other processes by March 31 and July 31 is the deadline to make the city's roads and flyovers as smooth a ride as in Hyderabad.

The BMP's main problem with the contractors is that when the BMP announced tenders for works on 1,000 km of roads, not a single contractor participated. A second tender has been announced at Rs. 173 crores. With a February 2 deadline if this misfires too, Mr. Singh said the BMP must have no qualms in cutting them off, and going for tenders with large firms with impeccable reputation, emulating Andhra Pradesh.

Mr Jothiramalingam said that the Karnataka High Court has made certain observations and called for a status report in a petition being heard by it, and this was also borne in mind.

The severely cash-strapped BMP, in its presentation, mooted the reintroduction of octroi, which was abolished in 1979, to shore up revenues. Restoration of additional charge on Stamp Duty is another suggestion, as loss of over Rs. 180 crores in revenue has not been compensated during the last three years. The creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle for planning, designing and execution and maintenance of major roads under BMP is another item on the BMP wish list.