Code of conduct at BMP to rein in corporators

Code of conduct at BMP to rein in corporators
Deccan Herald

This code was promoted keeping in mind the ward engineers. “Most of the time, ward engineers are at the corporator’s house.

A ‘code of conduct’ for corporators? This unheard of concept, in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike at least, is now being recommended by the High Court panel on road works, in its fourth report submitted on May 24.

“Going by the way corporators perform, we sometimes wonder if they are seriously interested in development. Our recommendations on code of conduct attempts to introduce a procedure to handle ward works,” revealed Capt Raja Rao, Chairperson of the panel.

Working hours

Each corporator should fix working hours, depending on his convenience, and the ward engineer and him should be available to the public during this duration.

This code was promoted keeping in mind the ward engineers. “Most of the time, ward engineers are at the corporator’s house. How will he supervise road works if he is busy following the corporator the entire day? Therefore, we have advised in our report to fix timings, when the corporator and the ward engineer are both available. The remaining time engineers should go about their job,” Capt Rao explained.

Participation

The corporator should consult resident associations before finalising programme of works.

The panel recommended active participation of resident associations in preparation of programme of works related to road repair, drainage, tree plantation among other civic issues.

“We have found corporators indulging in vote bank politics; they take up only those works which get them votes. We want residents to prioritise their requirements, and plan projects with the corporators accordingly,” Capt Rao revealed.

Deadlines

This code is especially applicable to corporators who are on the Standing Committee for Works.

Taking note of the endless delays in clearing estimates and other files, the panel has said there should be a realistic programme on how works should be done.

“The Works Committee tends to sit on files. Either they want corporators to grease their palms or they are not interested in delivering the projects. There should be deadlines for planning and execution of works,” said Capt Rao.

According to him, the planning of works proposed in the budget should be completed by November, and the remaining four months should be utilised in execution. The panel has recommended that corporators should not interfere in the execution of development works after the tenders are finalised and the agencies are fixed. This has been suggested to avoid addition, deletion or changes in the development works, he said.

Reveal relationship

Alleging that in several cases, corporators awarded contracts to their family and friends, the panel has said corporators should declare the relationship he has with the contracting agency, if any.

“This step is intended at checking corruption. However, we foresee obstacles in the implementation of this rule. We had asked the previous BMP Commissioner to give us details, but he excused himself by saying it was too difficult to gather these facts,” Capt Raja Rao said.