Anti-corruption Forum files complaint with ED alleging funds misuse for BBMP development works in Bengaluru

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], November 27 : Ramesh NR, President of the Anti-corruption Forum on Tuesday submitted a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), alleging misappropriation of Rs 46,300 crores allocated between 2013 and 2023-24 for road development works by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
A staggering Rs 46,292.23 crore (Forty-Six Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-Two Crore Twenty-Three Lakh) was released over the 10 years from 2013-14 to 2023-24 for the development of main and ward roads in the 198 wards of the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The funds, meant for flyovers, underbridges, and white-topping roads, have been completely misused in the name of road development, according to the complaint.
Road development works are being done by the "Roads Infrastructure Department" and "Project (Central) Department" using such huge grants yet every year at least more than 25,000 potholes are created. From 11/10/2024 to 24/10/2024 1,980 Kms in BBMP, over 30,000 potholes have been detected during personal inspection of Arterial, Sub-Arterial and Main roads in BBMP limits. If all the huge grant of 46,300 crore released for the development of roads by the Greater BBMP in the last 10 years has been put to good use, the 1,980 km under the jurisdiction of the BBMP, pavements of long highways could be paved with "gold plates", the letter stated.
Despite the release of these significant funds, in the last 10 years, inferior-quality roads have been constructed more than in any other urban area in the country, and tens of thousands of potholes are being created one after the other on BBMP roads, covering 198 wards. This is a very clear window into the system of corruption in the Greater BBMP, added the letter.
The BBMP, which spends at least seven to eight thousand crores of rupees every year on road development, does not have a single laboratory to check the quality of the raw materials used for asphalting works. Currently, BBMP relies on laboratories in Hyderabad and Pune. Constructing a laboratory to test materials would cost just two to three crore rupees, yet the BBMP has not made any effort in this regard. The main reason for this is the rampant corruption going on in BBMP "Roads Infrastructure Department", "Project (Central) Department" and "Divisional Executive Engineers' Office", and the only thing that can prevent huge looting activities by these officials in association with rogue contractors is the construction of the laboratory. The letter claims that the establishment of such a laboratory would help curb looting by corrupt officials and contractors, but senior officers have blocked this initiative.
Due to this type of highly corrupt system, the quality of BBMP works remains subpar. The State Government and the Chief Commissioner/Senior Officers of the BBMP are not making even the slightest effort to curb the widespread system of corruption rampant in the main departments of BBMP. Unable to deal with such an excessive corruption system, the local contractors have stopped participating in the BBMP's tender processes, and in the last couple of years, no local contractor has participated in the huge amount of work invited by BBMP, contractors from the neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and North India are participating, but it is unlikely they will deliver high-quality work, the letter concluded.