HC panel slams Corpn over interference in road works

HC panel slams Corpn over interference in road works
VIJAY TIMES NEWS

Bangalore: Barely two days after the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) received a tongue-lashing from Chief Minister N Dharam Singh, the civic body got another jolt from the expert committee constituted by Karnataka High Court to look into the quality of road works in the City .

The committee, which submitted its second bi-monthly report, said the engineering fraternity in BCC is a demoralised lot, thanks to the interference by elected representatives and the BCC.

Advocate A V Amarnathan, who made available the copy of the report, said the committee had also said the BCC, for reasons best known to it, was shifting ward engineers at the instance of elected representatives.

Further , the committee also said the BCC should consider blacklisting the consultant responsible for bad management of contract and for delivering very bad quality of roads.

It was also stated that contractors, engineers and consultants involved in the execution of road works in all packages examined by it have failed to discharge their duties.

The committee suggested the BCC take action against them so that it can serve as a warning to other such defaulters . It said the inspection of 11 road repair packages in 15 wards sho wed the BCC had been lax in monitoring the road laying and repair works.

Redo work: The committee also said the contractors who had taken up asphalting work on packages inspected by the committee should be asked to redo the asphalting work.



Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the Bangalore City Corporation to file an affidavit stating the action it had taken to improve the quality of roads in the City based on recommendations made by the expert committee constituted by it.

A Division comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice B Padmaraj said the affidavit should be filed in two months.

The court, while issuing directions, also said this is a serious matter and it should not be taken lightly .

4 Constitute an expert technical advisory panel to help take administrative decisions and to scrutinise estimates, prepare feasibility reports on infrastructure and major road projects

4 Provide separate funds to executive engineers to take up emergency works ordered by elected representatives

4 While awarding more than one ward to the lowest bidder , BCC should retain the choice of awarding package

4 Set up a quality control division to carry out quality control of all road works