Civic babus wake up to parking scandal

Civic babus wake up to parking scandal

ATUL CHATURVEDI



The top brass of BBMP have finally woken up to the pay-and-park scam and have decided to crack down on civic officials who awarded the controversial contract for nine city roads without inviting tenders.
On Saturday, Joint Commissioner (markets) Govindraju lodged a complaint with the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) stating that the pay-and-park contract had been awarded to an ex-serviceman, G Subramanya, in violation of the Transparency Act. As per the Act, any contract worth more than Rs 1 lakh should be awarded through the bidding process. In the present case, BBMP officials had awarded a contract unilaterally to Subramanya after taking a demand draft for Rs 1.60 lakh. Action should be taken against Assistant Revenue Officer Jagadish and other officials in this connection, Govindraju said in the complaint. Based on the complaint, BMTF has prepared an FIR and is investigating the case. Acknowledging Bangalore Mirror’s expose on Sunday, the BBMP chief, S Subramanya, said a case had been registered against Jagadish and other officials with BMTF.
OFFICIAL BLAMES BOSS
Meanwhile, Jagadish wrote a letter to BBMP Commissioner S Subramanya on Friday, saying he had awarded the contract at the behest of his superior, Additional Commissioner (east) Puttaswamy. The contract was awarded to G Subramanya for St Mark’s Road, Lavelle Road and its cross roads, M G Road, Krishna Temple Road (Indiranagar), Brunton Road, Kidskemp to Richmond Road,Ali Askar Road, Jyoti Nivas to 5th Main Road, and Millers Road. Jagadish also accused Puttaswamy of granting a contract to three other persons in December to run the payand-park scheme at Kamaraj Road, Main Guard Road and Dispensary Road (all located near Commercial Street).The three — Kavitha,Linge Gowda and G Subramanya Shetty — are physically handicapped.