Thursday, Feb 24, 2005
Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 |
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Bangalore
By Our Staff Reporter
BANGALORE, FEB. 23. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday demanded a White Paper on the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's finances. The members, including the BJP Floor Leader in the BMP Council, B.M. Mangala, the party spokesman, S. Prakash, and the party city unit general secretary, Gangabhyraiah, alleged that the civic body has gone "bankrupt" as it is using the money deducted from the employees' salaries towards their Life Insurance Corporation premium and bank loans for other purposes. They demanded details of the amount of tax collected and the money used for administrative purposes, development works, and repayment of loans and payment of interest. "Over 284 employees have taken loans from the Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank. Though their equated monthly instalments are being deducted from the salary regularly, the money has not been deposited in the bank. Now, the bank has sent notices to the employees," Ms. Mangala said. She pointed out that the contractors' bills for garbage clearance and security in the BMP offices have not been cleared for months. "Following this, the workers employed by the contractors are not being paid regularly," she said. While the small-time contractors are ignored by the BMP, big contractors entrusted with major projects get paid even if the work is not completed. This is unfair, she said.
Mayor blamed
Blaming the BMP Commissioner, K. Jothiramalingam, and the Mayor, R. Narayanaswamy, for this, Ms. Mangala pointed out that even the grants promised by the Government when it signed a memorandum of understanding with the BMP have not been released. "Of the promised Rs. 250 crores, only Rs. 103 crores have been released so far. The financial crisis is because the Mayor and Commissioner are not following up the matter properly with the State Government," she pointed out and said that the civic body will be burdening the citizens if the proposed infrastructure cess and solid waste management cess are imposed.
Action sought
Mr. Prakash demanded disciplinary action against the BMP Engineer-in-Chief, Rame Gowda, and the Technical Adviser, R. Jaiprasad, for not being able to get the Rs. 130-crore asphalting work started. "Though the letters of intent for the project were issued in January last year, not even 15 per cent of the work has been completed. While some packages have been entrusted to blacklisted contractors, some have been re-tendered," he said. Demanding that all asphalting works should be completed by April as promised, he said the private consultants — Wilber Smith, Span Consultants, Stup Consultants, Manasa Consultants, Sundharam Associates and ESC Consultants — appointed by the BMP to monitor the contractors' work and to ensure that quality is maintained should be paid only after the project is completed. Though most of the consultants have discontinued their work on the ground that their contract with the BMP has expired, the BMP has already paid them Rs. 29 crores, Mr. Prakash added.
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