CUT THE CLUTTER

CUT THE CLUTTER
Procedural delays and slow tendering hold up the smallest of works. Even MLAs are now calling for an easier system
Aarthi R | TNN

Bangalore: The past few months have seen an increased number of public meets in the city. With no area corporator in place, various resident welfare groups have been trying ways to address pending civic issues by meeting their MLAs. However, more MLAs now see no point in making promises of short-term redressal that fail to take off due to procedural delays, slow tendering of works being one of them.
While MLA-ministers like Katta Subramanya Naidu have managed to make headway in solving problems like that of contaminated lake water in a day, there are others who have been struggling to keep three-month-old promises.
But it’s not just the ministerial power that matters, according to some MLAs. There’s no huge fund crunch either. The long wait to make things happen could be eased only if the projects are timebound. The idea is to arrive at an easier, streamlined system that ensures that minor infrastructure works are not caught in tendering delays.
Congress MLA Krishna Byregowda has one of the largest constituencies under his jurisdiction: Byatarayanapura. He attends at least 20 public meets in a week, where water supply, road and drain works are highlighted. “Nearly 30 development works have been tendered in the last two months, but work on the ground is yet to begin,’’ he said. The government had also reserved another Rs 50-crore worth development works. These were to be done by the BBMP but a few of them have been handed over to BDA. “This handover has also delayed the process,’’ he says, suggesting that either people should be informed about these procedural delays or a simplified model should be adopted.
“Very often, we come across short-term tenders called for in newspapers, only to be withdrawn soon,’’ says BJP MLA S Raghu (C V Raman Nagar). He has attended close to 24 public meets, and about 72 developmental works have been initiated. “But a few of them are still caught in tendering,’’ he told The Times of India. One of them is the restoration of the storm water drain in HAL II Stage.
This issue has been pending from July, when the MLA had made a promise during a public meet to restore it in 90 days. Much of the delay, he says, is due to long-winding procedures. Raghu says not many contractors with the BBMP have the capacity to undertake multiple projects at a time. Besides, there’s shortage of staff at the execution level. For instance, an executive engineer at the BBMP is in charge of more than one constituency. “Many times, he is unable to attend public meets as they clash with similar programmes in another constituency,’’ he said, suggesting that it’s time every constituency had an executive engineer. “It takes months to settle even a small job, while people want a way out in just a few days. There is little we can do in such cases,’’ he said.
The tender villain
The process of tendering was brought in under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 2000. The main objective was to ensure better transparency in evaluation as well as the acceptance of tenders. However, the long -drawn tendering process seems to hamper many minor development works, according to some MLAs.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com