Bringing major relief to the City, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), after a long hiatus, will likely resume majority of the civic works from November.
All works in Bengaluru had come to a grinding halt after the new Congress government assumed charge, which is a usual exercise for any new government in the State as it reviews the works tendered, conceptualised and sanctioned by the previous government before moving ahead.
Investigations on
Additionally, however, the Congress government also announced that it wants to look into the corruption allegations made against the previous BJP government, which further delayed the process. The Urban Development Department has set four Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to probe the quality of works executed between 2019-20 and 2022-23. However, coming under pressure from the contractors, the government has released a portion of pending bills for the works executed during the previous government even before the SIT could complete the investigations.
Now, with works of the city hampered and the southwest monsoon season coming to an end, the government wants to resume works, especially regarding stormwater drains and programme of works (PoW) sanctioned under BBMP grants.
Work on drains
BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath, speaking to The Hindu, said stormwater drain works will start from November and pending payments for the contractors are being cleared. He said it is common to restart work in this month which was stopped due to the monsoon. A few works have already begun that were stopped by the contractors, he said.
He further said PoW works to the tune of ₹856 crore were sanctioned and some were underway before being halted. These will also commence soon. On the other hand, of the ₹6,000 crore worth works sanctioned under Amrutha Nagarothana, over ₹2,000 crore had been completed. The works for which work orders were issued will resume and for others, the government will take a call on whether there is a necessity to implement the works in the same manner or need any change.
Help from WB
The BBMP has completed about 45% of stormwater drain works. The drain works may also receive funding from the World Bank. Due to incomplete works, many areas had experienced inundation when it rained heavily.
