The wettest October and November in recent history left telltale signs on the city’s already crumbling infrastructure. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had sought help from the State Government after estimating loss to infrastructure to the tune of over ₹1,100 crore caused by the heavy rains.
The State government, however, has now dashed the hopes of the civic body, citing lack of funds. The BBMP had initially sought 4(g) exemption under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999, to take up works it had deemed as “emergency” and ₹1,171.33 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund.
In a letter to BBMP’s chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta, Urban Development Department’s Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh, who is also the BBMP administrator in the absence of an elected council, pointed out that many of the works proposed to be taken up do not fall under the emergency category. Hence, he stated that the BBMP utilise its own resources to take up these works or carry the out under the recently-approved Amruth Nagarottana scheme.
