By Zahid H Javali
In the last financial year, only two projects were successfully “executed” by the BBMP in the Hoysalanagar ward, which includes major parts of Indiranagar. Out of the Rs 21 crore allocated for 175 projects, only Rs 1.1 crore was spent on two of them. And even these were for areas outside Indiranagar, such as the electrification of playgrounds in Murphy Town and Vijaynagar, among others. Much of the works in Indiranagar that never got executed included the construction of individual houses to several people residing on CMH Road, Binnamangala, and surrounding areas. Besides, much of the money went unspent on the maintenance of parks in Indiranagar. In the last five years, a mere 33% of money was spent on BBMP works in Hoysalanagar ward. Out of the Rs 95 crore allocated for 411 approved projects, only 98 were executed for Rs 31 crore.
The story gets worse in the Jogupalya ward where none of the projects were executed last year, although 57 works were approved for Rs 47 crore. Thanks to this incompetence, the amenities that failed to get attention included the improvement of drain, road and footpath works in and around Double Road, Cambridge Road, and Indiranagar 2nd Stage. Besides, the maintenance and repairs of parks in the neighbourhood suffered too. The picture becomes a shade better when the last five years are considered as 33% of the money allocated was spent in this ward. Eight-six projects were “executed” for Rs 36 crore out of the Rs 103 crore allotted for 176 works.
The situation was only marginally better in the Domlur ward. Only the roads and drains in SC/ST areas were improved for Rs 66 lakhs last year. The other 55 projects never took off for which Rs 16 crore was allotted. Much of these pertained to the development of parks and playgrounds in the ward. However, the Domlur ward fared better if we take the last five years as it utilised 50% of the money budgeted for it. Rs 69 crore was spent on 179 works out of the Rs 121 crore allocated for 358 projects.
‘BBMP budget is always unrealistic’
Why do the approved projects never get implemented? Observers argue that this could be for many reasons. The projects never had a feasible detailed project report, or there were complications or violations of some kind. Another major possibility is that the approved projects never get the money that was promised due to lack of funds. “The original budget of the BBMP is always unrealistic,” says CIVIC Bangalore’s executive trustee Kathyayini Chamaraj. “The projects take off as and when the money comes into the kitty. When Yediyurappa became CM, the money allotted to Congress wards was taken away and transferred to the BJP wards. Besides, some tenders never get approved as contractors refuse to work due to pending bills. In Shanthinagar for example, the corporator is always complaining that no contractor wants to come forward and take up any work due to this.”
Citizen portal ushers in transparency in BBMP projects
Nailing the BBMP officials is difficult unless you have hard data to substantiate it. Now, you can. The Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP) has launched a citizen portal that gives you ward-wise works of the last five years. Armed with this information, the residents and civic activists can confront the civic agency and the local netas on why the work was not done due to any number of reasons. Not only will this sort of ‘social audit’ usher in transparency but also accountability in the way BBMP does its work. But is this data authentic? “Yes, it is sourced from the largely terrifying user interface of BBMP’s portal,” says Lalithamba BV, HSR Layout resident and BNP core member. “It took almost 20 people to work for a month to collate all the data from the civic agency’s website.” BNP has begun an online petition asking the BBMP to replicate the user-interface of the citizen portal and make it more citizen-friendly. The party is asking the civic agency to display ward-wise and year-wise data on its website to usher in transparency. Over 1400 people have signed this petition here.
Civic activists blame the lack of progress on ground for the dismal state of affairs. Another reason is the weak composition of ward committees filled with political cronies appointed by the corporator. This goes against the KMC Act, according to Chamaraj. She has written a letter to chief minister BS Yediyurappa to let the BBMP Commissioner directly appoint the Ward Committee members instead of delegating it to the corporators as this method goes against the provisions of the KMC Act.
The disreputable government agency Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL), which was previously called the Karnataka Land Army Corporation, is partly to blame. After the Karnataka High Court paused all projects taken by KRIDL early this year, such contentious projects were halted. In the Hoysalanagar ward, nearly 75% of the money in the last five years went to this corrupt agency. In Domlur, the figure stood at 35%, while Jogupalya was 22.5%. For over a decade, this agency was being used and abused by the elected representatives to usurp taxpayers’ money. This way of awarding civic works to KRIDL is in violation of Section 4(g) of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, which allows for work to be carried out without calling for a tender. Only essential and emergency works are to be carried out by KRIDL, but all sorts of routine works were being handed over to KRIDL. “As there is no tendering process, you can take 100% of the money without even starting the work,” says Congress spokesperson Kavitha Reddy. “If these works go through the BBMP, a tender is called for any project above Rs 1 lakh. A proper vigilance committee goes over the project plan and technically evaluates it. Ofcourse, there is corruption here as well, but it’s still better than KRIDL which does it without any supervision or transparency.” Ironically, every party is guilty of using KRIDL for their devious ends. It was Congress and JD(S) earlier, and BJP now. The irony of this approach is that KRIDL sub contracts the work to the same contractors who work for the civic agencies. What’s more, it charges 20% more than the tender amount, and the result is either a shoddy job or worse, no job at all. In 2010 and 2018, KRIDL was blacklisted for shoddy work. Civic experts questioned this practice in 2013 too.
What can citizens do about this? With the term of the corporators having ended on September 10, they can only blame the politicians for their inefficiency, and ensure that such elected representatives are not re-elected for their shoddy performance. Besides, this issue should be taken up more seriously at all the ward committee meetings by active citizens and the resident welfare associations. All those who owe any kind of political allegiance to the corporator or MLA should be unceremoniously thrown out or their voices muted at such hearings.
Here are some of the unexecuted works in Indiranagar in 2019-20. Civic activists and residents welfare associations can hold the MLA and BBMP officials accountable for the money that was never utilised towards works that are begging for funds.
Some of the unexecuted projects of BBMP in 2019-20. Data source: BNP’s Citizen Portal
