Very interesting. My compliments to all those who fought hard to expose corruption in BBMP . Definitely a RTI success story .
Arun Agrawal ________________________________ From: Anil kumar <[email protected]> To: PRAJA-VOL <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; RTI4EMPOWERMENT <[email protected]>; rti4ngo <[email protected]> Cc: antibriberycampaign <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 6 August, 2009 11:04:36 Subject: [rti_india] MEETING CONVENED BY LOKAYUKTA Dear All, Mr. Venkataram, President of Supraja Federation & member of KRIA KATTE had obtained under RTI all the records relating to asphalting of Rama Iyengar Road (in Visveswarapuram ward 50 of BBMP) during the year 2005-06 and again in the year 2006-07 and found that the 2005-06 the designated work was not carried out on that particular road but used elsewhere by BBMP and in records of BBMP had mentioned as Rama Iyengar Road. He had filed complaint to Lokayukta and the case was investigated and Lokayukta had instructed the BBMP to initaiate action against the concerned officials at the end of last year. In November 2008 Mr. Venkataram had requested the BBMP Commissioner for an appointment to discuss some of the irregularties happening in the yearly Programme of Works(POW) and suggestion to improve the system in a transparent way, but the then BBMP commissioner ignored his request. Since there was no response even after six months from the Commissioner BBMP for personal discussion to re-design the existing system which has been breeding large scale corruption in Roads, Foot Paths and Drain Works, we approached Lokayukta Justice N.Santosh Hegde with the attached file seeking his help. After glancing through our papers, he immediately assured us that he would call the commissioner to his office for our meeting shortly. The meeting took place on 5th August 2009 in the chambers of Lokayukta which was very cordial and meaningful. The Commissioner agreed with our suggestions besides conceding to, post details of all the works carried out in each ward on the website. What is more, the Commissioner has agreed to develop one ward in each zone as a Model Ward. The following members were present in the meeting chaired by Justice N.Santosh Hegde: Representing BBMP- The Commissioner, Sri Bharatlal Meena, Additional Commissioners( South) Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ekkeri, Chief Engineer Sri Srikante Gowda and others. From our side, Sri S.R.Venkataram, Sri Ravindranath Guru, Sri Ashwathnarayan, Sri V.R.Sheshu, and self. The text of the suggestions are given under SUPRAJAA Federation of Associations of Visveswarapuram Ward No. 50.Residents Welfare Association of B.P.Wadia Road, Womens Wing of Crescent Association of Mohammaden Block, V.V.Puram Residents Welfare Association, Residents Association of Ramaiyengar Road, M.M.V.Road Residents Welfare Association and Lalbagh West Residents Association. 301, Brigade Parkview, B.P.Wadia Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore – 560 004. Phone: 26506261, 9341240751 E-mail srvenkatram@ yahoo.com BRUHAT BENGALURU MAHANAGARA PALIKE. ROADS, FOOTPATHS AND DRAIN WORKS. The present system of recording and billing by BBMP of the above stated works which is in practice for decades, is far from satisfactory and has many loopholes leading to large scale corruption. This needs immediate attention. All loopholes should be plugged in, and complete transparent system should be introduced in public interest. With this in view Suprajaa studied in detail a few sample cases of Roads, Foot paths and Drain works executed by BBMP in the recent past and found that: A contractor was paid Rs. 3,60,650 for a road that was not asphalted. On our complaint, Lokayukta passed strictures and directed BBMP to take action against the culprits as per rules. In another case of Drain Works, an amount of Rs. 16.48 lakhs was paid to a contractor where as the actual work done in accordance with the sanctioned estimate was only Rs. 6.55 lakhs. There were no documents to support the alleged work done to the extent of Rs.9.93 lakhs. This case is under investigation by Lokayukta. It is high time that BBMP redesigns the existing system that has been breeding large scale corruption. Existing System 1. History sheets of roads, footpaths and drains of Bangalore which are basic requirements DO NOT exist. Without Road Register, it is not possible to identify the works carried out and also the dates and details of works executed. 2. Detailed dimensional sketches are not prepared for individual works. Works are being carried out with JURISDICTION MAP of the Ward with no dimensions. Even the names of roads are not legible. Annexures 1A & 1B. 3. The present system of placing orders(Schedule – B) on contractors are very vague. It is a mere consolidated “quantity-cum” rate order instead of being the replica of the detailed sanctioned estimates. Annexure – 2. 4. Measurement Book records, which are the only source for payment of bills, is anything but satisfactory. It is a BUNDLE of ILLEGIBLE SCRIBBLED SHEETS which can not be verified along with Technically and Administratively sanctioned estimates. Annexures – 3A & 3B. 5. Duplicate orders exist, one as “Spillover” order and the other as “POW” order. Apparently no audit system exists. 6. Payments are being made on duplicate orders. Where is the audit system? Refer Annexure 5. 7. Administrative Approval and Technical Sanctions by the designated Authorities remain only on paper since payments are made solely based on MB records. Annexure – 6A & 6B. 8. While replacing covering slabs of Drains with new slabs, old slabs have never been accounted.Where have those slabs been disposed off ? Are those old slabs not salvaged? If salvaged, where are the details? The cost runs to lakhs and lakhs. Annexure –7. SUGGESTIONS. 1. Maintain Road Register. It shall contain Length and width of each road, footpaths and drains. Details of each and every work done on that road should be registered, like Work order reference, estimated cost, date of commencement of work, date of completion, actual cost incurred, name of contractor etc. 2. Prepare detailed sketches of each sanctioned work. 3. Issue detailed work order to the contractor(Schedule –B) identical to the Technically & Administratively sanctioned estimates along with dimensional sketches. 4. Execute works strictly in accordance with the Technically & Administratively sanctioned estimates and work orders. Additional works if any which are not included in the original sanctioned estimates must have separate Technical & Administrative sanctions with dimensional sketches and a new work order. 5 Discontinue the present system of MB recordings. All recordings shall be in the same manner as the item-wise sanctioned estimates, clearly mentioning the actual quantity of work done against each item. 6. Duplicate orders and double payments can thus be avoided by following our suggestions of itemes 1 to 5. 7. Classify roads based on scientific and technical parameters and divide into arterial roads, sub-arterial roads, residential roads, lanes etc., and arrive at a suitable asphalting specification to each category of road and avoid wasteful practices. At present no such classifications exist. 8. Drain Works: While replacing old covering slabs, old slabs must be accounted for, mentioning the quantity replaced in the road register stated in item 1 above. 9. The site supervisor should always carry a copy of the work order with details of the work that he executes at site, and the same should be made available for information to any citizen who evinces interest in knowing about the work. S.R.Venkataram (President) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
