Irregularities in road projects come to light

Irregularities in road projects come to light

The Hindu

Documents procured through the Right to Information Act reveal violations

# Recorded value of the work in MB exceeds sanctioned cost without prior approval
# Officials says recorded value was slightly more because drain works have been modified

BANGALORE: Irregularities in billing and payment of projects undertaken by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) worth several lakhs of rupees in Visveswarapuram have come to light, thanks to documents procured through the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

These documents, pertaining to roadside drain works on Govindappa Road, H.B. Samaja Road, Krishna Road, North Public Square Road, B.P. Wadia Road and Surveyor Street, showed that the recorded value of the work in the measurement book (MB) exceeded the sanctioned cost without prior approval.

This is significant because the contractor's bills are paid on the basis of the entry made in the MB.

While the sanctioned cost for these works was Rs. 15 lakh, the recorded value in the MB was Rs. 16,48,068. That was not all. On scrutiny, it was found that the actual work that was strictly in accordance with the sanctioned estimate was only for Rs. 6.55 lakh.

Not executed

According to S.R. Venkataram, president of Suprajaa (federation of associations of Visveswarapuram), who obtained the documents through RTI Act, the sanctioned works on Krishna Road and B.P. Wadia Road costing Rs. 3.53 lakh have neither been executed nor carried over for the next year as "spill over" work.

"This apart, for the extra Rs. 9.93 lakh worth of work allegedly done, the engineers failed to produce any document such as approved sanctions for revised estimates and the sketches," Mr Venkataram told The Hindu .

"Detailed sketches are vital for such drain works. But BBMP officials, who do not believe in this procedure, have submitted the jurisdiction map of Visveswarapuram as the sketch for the above work where one cannot even identify the names of the six roads," he said.

As per the BBMP's rules, if any deviations are required to be made from the original approved work, detailed estimates (with sketches) must be made for these deviations and approved by proper authorities.

"But the officials have not furnished the revised sanctioned estimates for the work allegedly executed to the extent of Rs. 9.93 lakh," he said.

Mr. Venkataram is also not sure whether the sanctioned amount of Rs 3.53 lakh for drain works on B.P. Wadia Road and Krishna Road will be carried over as "unused fund" for the next year or whether the order will be closed.

Sketches

"When I approached the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), the BBMP prepared a sketch that was again not satisfactory. The Commission subsequently issued a directive to the BBMP Commissioner that all such orders should have detailed sketches and under section 4(1)(c) of the RTI Act it should be placed on its website," he explained. The Federation has complained to Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde.

Denied

BBMP's Visveswarapuram Assistant Engineer Surya Narayan Rao refuted the allegations and said that the recorded value in the measurement book was slightly more because the drain works had been modified.

"That apart, before taking up the drain works, we need to level the pavement and clear obstructions on them. There has been no malpractice and we have explained all this to the KIC," he added.