No accountability in BBMP tender process

No accountability in BBMP tender process
RTI Documents Show BBMP Paid Consultants Before Work Began, Didn’t Record Progress
R Krishnakumar | TNN

Bangalore: Shoddy maintenance of roads and drains is still the core of Bangalore’s infrastructure gridlock. But the circle of unaccountability starts much before maintenance, if information received under the RTI Act on a project consultancy work awarded by BBMP is any indication. Details of a road repair scheme — received under the RTI Act by C H Ram and M V K Anil Kumar — throw light on alleged discrepancies while awarding the contract to the three project consultants.
A proposal was made in 2006 for the repair of 31 roads, attached to the flood damage control scheme, on a budget of Rs 72 crore. The Karnataka Land Army Corporation (KLAC) was entrusted with the project, involving private companies, as project management consultants. The documents reveal that the consultants were picked without the mandatory tendering process. Further, payment to KLAC was initiated three months before the work order was signed with the three consultants: Concrete Structure Forensic Consultants, Struct Geotech Research Labs and Manasa Consultants.
“This was, in effect, premature payment, and the consultants started work before the order was signed,’’ says Ram, who is in possession of documents that reveal that while the work order was signed in October 2006, the payment file was signed as early as in August the same year. Anil Kumar, who is also convener of RTI activist group Kria Katte, says the stamp papers purchased by one consultancy firm were signed by officials in another consultancy firm.
That even the telephone numbers of two firms are the same proves that they are owned by the same set of people, the applicants allege. Some of the notes from the consultant groups to BBMP are also undated and without the signatory’s designation.
Act violated
The award was in contrast with the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act that stipulates that any public work with a budget of over Rs 1 lakh, requires tendering through public notices in newspapers. The discrepancies were highlighted even by BBMP chief auditor and executive engineer of the traffic engineering cell, the documents reveal.
Ram, a resident of Koramangala 4th Block, had sought with multiple applications information on technical details of work on roadside drains in ST Bed Layout (ward No. 68) and the applications led to the revelation of the discrepancies. The RTI application was filed when work was happening, but the information was delayed, resulting in the Karnataka Information Commission slapping a fine of Rs 3,000 on former chief engineer A M Ranganathan.
Progress of work on these roads (some of the 31 original roads have now been exempted from consultancy services), including IT-BT roads, is also not being recorded promptly, allege the activists. Ram received information under RTI this year that progress is not being recorded by BBMP in the measurement book. The applicants are exploring various possibilities to highlight the deviation from prescribed procedures.