The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Corporators slam BMP engineers for bad roads

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Corporators slam BMP engineers for bad roads

Staff Reporter

`Works being awarded for the benefit of contractors, not public'

BANGALORE: Commotion prevailed at the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Council meeting over the pathetic condition of roads and the Palike's inability to secure a copy of the report of Raja Rao Committee that was submitted to the Karnataka High Court in response to a public interest writ petition.

Corporators, cutting across party lines, took the Engineering Department of the BMP to task and questioned why it was unable to ensure quality work.

P.R. Ramesh (Congress) alleged that the palike has been learning by mistakes at the cost of public money. Mangala (BJP) said the stretch of the Chord Road between Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd. (KSDL) and Vijayanagar lasted 13 years after it was laid in 1986. She alleged that the BMP Engineering Department was not properly supervising roadwork. Kuppuraju (Janata Dal-Secular) said there was no proper mechanism to assess quality of roadwork executed.

Members said it was shameful that Bangalore, an international information technology hub, has roads full of potholes.

Mr. Ramesh said works are being awarded for the benefit of contractors and not for the benefit of citizens.

Engineer-in-Chief Rame Gowda said latest equipment are in place to check quality of works. He said funds were insufficient and said the department will execute the work within the allocated funds as per set standards and no question should be asked whether the work was fully completed.

Mayor Mumtaz Begum said that all pending road improvement works will be completed before February and new works at a cost of about Rs. 80 crores will begin by January 15.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section