Road panel, BMP wage a ‘cold war’

Road panel, BMP wage a ‘cold war’
Trade Non-Cooperation & Intimidation Charges
The Times of India

Bangalore: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) and the three-member high court-appointed panel on roads seem to be waging a cold war. If the panel talks of problems faced in compiling reports because of “not getting expected cooperation from the BMP’’, the BMP talks of “highhandedness and arrogance’’ of the committee.

Six months and three reports on roads later, the panel headed by Capt. Raja Rao has lambasted the BMP engineers for non-cooperation. A chunk of the panel’s third report is devoted to problems faced by the committee in obtaining information on infrastructure works, pothole-filling work etc.

The report states (in bold letters): “The chief engineer and the engineer-inchief are disinterested in associating with the working of this committee. Except chief engineer (projects), no other engineer has participated in any inspection carried out by the expert committee so far.’’

Further, the report, which has devoted an entire section titled ‘Problems faced by the expert committee’, says: “The expert committee has been making repeated efforts to obtain the required information from the BMP and has been writing several letters. In spite of addressing letter to the commissioner, BMP, there is no response. Suggestion made for convening a meeting on this vexed issue is not fruitful.’’

But the BMP engineers have their own tale of woe. “We get intimidated whenever these people come on inspection. They demand all information on the spot. Because they nitpick on small things, the contractors are scared to participate; for the last few months, we have not had any contractor participating in tenders thereby delaying the works,’’ explains a senior engineer at the head office.

Capt. Raja Rao retorts: “Even after the first two reports were submitted to the court, the BMP’s advocate never bothered to ask for a copy. They got the copy from the petitioner himself! Even on the IT and BT roads, I am not in agreement with their specifications.’’

BMP commissioner K Jothiramalingam has only this to say: “I’ve had meetings with Capt. Raja Rao, along with my executive engineers. I’ve nothing to say about the committee, all queries should be addressed to Capt. Raja Rao.” Only 1 of the 286 tests carried out!

Among other observations, the one on poor quality continues. In Rajajinagar ward alone, when 4.6 km of road was inspected, 286 tests for bituminous macadam (BM) and 98 tests for mixed slurry seal (MSS) should have been carried out by the contractor. But only one test for BM and no tests for MSS were conducted, says the report.