HC panel finds gaping holes in BMP system

HC panel finds gaping holes in BMP system
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Ad-hocism is rampant in Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP). Scientific principles are given a go by. Fundamentals of engineering are totally ignored.

These are the some observations of the expert committee headed by Capt S. Raja Rao, former secretary, Environment and Minor Irrigation Department, constituted by the High Court to look into the condition of roads in Bangalore and suggest remedial measures. The committee was constituted after a PIL was filed by former MLA K N Subba Reddy.

The committee’s report to the HC has stated that if scientific principles and technicalities had been followed, available funds could have been better utilised to cover more roads.

It has also stated that officers dealing with tenders and evaluating them were not conversant with relevant rules and regulations and the provisions of the Transparency Act.

They are not aware how technical and financial bids are to be evaluated, specially when more than one work is to be awarded to the same bidder.

They are also not aware how to identify the vital parameters for evaluating technical and financial bids. If only they had correctly evaluated technical and financial bids, many bidders would not have got more than one bid.

That way, works would have been completed in time and more contractors would have been available for completing works, and there would not have been any necessity to split works into smaller pieces and for fresh tenders. All these lacunae have delayed the completion of work, the report stated.

Quality check by the expert committee in 16 packages spread over 15 wards showed that quality assurance was far from satisfactory and the percentage of work conforming to IRC Norms was very low.

The committee stated that during its interaction with engineers in the field, the committee noticed that in the absence of clear instructions, engineers used their own discretion, which is not scientific in preparing estimates for roads.

The general trend noticed by the committee was that least regard, importance and priority were given for providing, improving, strengthening the tertiary drainage system.

The committee also noticed that only a single tender was being received for many works and BMP was entertaining such tenders and encouraging the monopoly of contractors and formation of cartels, which then dictated terms.

Qualifications prescribed for eligibility for selection of contractors is being progressively diluted to accommodate contractors who do not possess the required machinery to deliver quality work, the report found.