BMP to submit ATR on roads to High Court on March 10

BMP to submit ATR on roads to High Court on March 10

The Hindu

Civic body gearing up to implement expert committee's recommendations

# Civic body to publish appeals in newspapers asking people not to let out water on the roads
# Four committees set up to implement panel's recommendations
# Zonal Deputy Commissioners directed to supervise road works and repairs

BANGALORE: Following the recommendations made by a three-member committee of experts set up by the Karnataka High Court to supervise road works in the city, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is gearing up to submit an action taken report (ATR) to the High Court on March 10.

The BMP has sought the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board's help in ensuring that the roads are not damaged by grease, lubricants and other types of effluents let out from open garages and workshops. "We have written to the board to initiate action against garage owners, who run their business on roads. As per the recommendations, roads are mainly damaged because of such effluents," a top official in the BMP's engineering wing told The Hindu on Wednesday.

The civic body will publish appeals in newspapers in a day or two asking people not to wash their cars or let out water on the road. "Seepage of water into the tar is known to damage the surface of road. It has been decided to create awareness among the public about do's and don'ts to maintain good roads," he said.

BMP Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam has set up four committees — one central and three zonal — to study the recommendations and chalk out methodologies to implement them. The members of the central committee (headed by Additional Commissioner (Finance) P.K. Srihari and Engineer-in-Chief Ramegowda) and the zonal committees (headed by the respective Deputy Commissioners) will meet for the second time on Thursday. "They will discuss and finalise the draft of the affidavit on `action-taken-report' to be submitted to the court on March 10," the official said.

The expert committee had pointed out that lax monitoring of road works by the engineering staff of the BMP had led to the bad condition of roads. It had also pointed out that the engineers had no "clear-cut" instructions on preparing estimates, maintaining and monitoring road works. As a follow-up to these points, the Commissioner has asked all the engineers to maintain "site order" books, "quality control" documents and monthly diaries, which will be reviewed by top officials periodically. The zonal Deputy Commissioners have been directed to supervise road works, repairs and other works, sources said.

Contracts

The BMP Council's decision on Tuesday to allow participation of contractors registered with the Public Works Department in and outside Karnataka in all its tenders is also a follow-up of the High Court committee's recommendations. The committee had blamed a cartel of contractors for the poor condition of roads.

"This decision will end the monopoly of contractors registered with the BMP who have formed a cartel to corner all road works. All the road works have been delayed because these contractors had boycotted the tenders floated by the BMP," sources added.