The Bangalore Metro Reporter
KILLING THE CRUSADERS!
AFTER HEADLESS LOKAYUKTA, THE GOVERNMENT NOW TARGETS BMTF!
The state government has not bothered to appoint Lokayukta for the last one year. Another post of Upa Lokayukta too is lying vacant. Besides, the government has taken control of the Lokayukta police by posting handpicked officials. Now the government has turned its attention to the BMTF. It is all set to weaken the BMTF by downgrading and bringing it under the control of BBMP Commissioner. The reason - the BMTF has taken on the unscrupulous political elements and bureaucrats, head on. If the BMTF is allowed to continue its tirade, many VIP politicians and top officials will be in soup....
Last month, the BBMP engineers went on a strike demanding the removal of R.P.Sharma, the ADGP and head of the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force. They also demanded bringing the BMTF under the BBMP control, withdrawal of cases filed against them and withdrawal of police station status accorded to BMTF. If one takes a close look into the entire episode, one can definitely find sinister design in the whole thing.
The BMTF grabbed the headlines last year when the then Commissioner Siddaiah referred the Rs. 1500 crores civil work scam in three Assembly Constituencies - Malleswaram, Gandhinagar and RR Nagar - to the BMTF for a probe. The BMTF took the probe seriously and arrested many engineers and filed criminal cases against them. As BMTF has Police Station status, it was easy for it to register the Complaint, investigate, arrest the culprits and prosecute them on its own. Further, BMTF is headed by ADGP and reports only to the government and therefore the BBMP Commissioner has no hold over its functioning. The arrest of such large number of engineers sent shockwaves among others who are notorious for Bogus works, bogus bills etc.
Three months back, R.P.Sharma went a step further and invited the public to air their grievances/complaints in BBMP through its website. The response was tremendous and BMTF received hundreds of complaints. After preliminary investigations, BMTF registered criminal cases against 135 engineers. This was the last straw. If the BMTF was allowed to continue with the probe, many politicians especially MLAs and Corporators would have felt the heat. Therefore, the engineers went on strike against BMTF and even instigated their workers and Pourakarmikas who also joined them.
Evidently, garbage contract is an Rs.500 crores business. For the last three years, the cartel of garbage contractors have prevented the tendering process and continued the contract with 10% increase every year. The BMTF which probed the issue estimated the contract at Rs. 150 crores! And the corporation is paying almost 500 crores that is more than three times the actual contract. The garbage contractors are worried about the BMTF action and therefore want it to be disbanded. Allegedly, there is a system of sharing the booty with those who matter in BBMP.
Whatsoever, Sharma was shunted out from BMTF and the strike was withdrawn. Even BBMP Commissioner Shankarlinge Gowda was replaced with Rajnish Goel. But still, the garbage problem continued. Before the accumulated garbage was to be dumped in the designated dumping yards, the people in the nearby villages started an agitation demanding that no more garbage be dumped in the yards.
Interestingly, the CAT stayed Sharma’s transfer and he was back in BMTF and continued his tirade against the violators. Since then the government is making every possible efforts to get the CAT ‘stay’ vacated to protect the vested interests.
BMTF is also probing the illegal allotment of 8 acres of land in Somanahalli, in Uttarahalli hobli to the present Mayor Venkatesha Murthy and his wife Prabha under Bagair hukum scheme, on the basis of false affidavits, in 2004. Sharma had issued a notice to the Mayor and his wife for presenting them and they were quick to get anticipatory bail fearing arrest. Interestingly, Sharma served a notice to the Dy.CM and Home Minister R.Ashoka also to appear before him to depose the matter as R.Ashoka was the Chairman of Bagair hukum Committee and Venkatesha Murthy had publicly stated that it was R.Ashoka who granted them the lands!
Apparently, R.Ashoka was in dire difficulty. If he deposes in the case as a witness, the BMTF may treat him as a witness in the prosecution or may make him an accused along with Venkatesh Murthy and his wife. R.Ashoka, therefore has not appeared before the BMTF as of now. The Mayor and his wife have temporarily got a relief from the High Court which has temporarily stayed the BMTF case against them for a week. Interestingly, few former Mayors even accused Sharma of building his house by violating the building byelaws, but, Sharma gave them a fitting reply.
The BMTF now has cases of land encroachment, building plan violations etc. by about 45 Corporators and few MLAs too. If BMTF files FIRs against these people, all hell will break loose and there will be a parade of people’s representation to Parappana Agrahara. No government can afford to face such a situation and as long as Sharma headed the BMTF, it remained a distinct possibility.
And now, to ward off any threat, present or future, the government is making attempts to weaken the BMTF, if not disbanding it. The present Commissioner Rajnish Goel in process may recommend downgrading the BMTF Chief’s post to the IGP Cadre. Presently, the BMTF works under Urban Development Department and the BBMP Commissioner will try and bring it under BBMP, so that the Commissioner can over ride the BMTF decisions.
There is also a process to withdraw police station power of BMTF. Then, BMTF will become another section in BBMP which can easily be manipulated by the politicians in power. Precisely, the BMTF will become just like revenue, engineering, etc. sections of BBMP. If all goes well, there will be a sort of vigilance cell in BBMP headed by a SP level police officer in place of BMTF. So, the fight against corruption in BBMP, the epicenter of corruption, will die a natural death.
Arguably, the BJP government famous for its corruption in state has shied away from appointing the Lokayukta for the last one year. Even though the High Court has time and again directed the government to appoint Lokayukta, the government is refusing to appoint the Lokayukta. In fact it has not even filled another vacant post of Upa Lokayukta. The government is damn afraid of the Lokayukta lest it may damage its vested interests and more importantly, as this is the election year!
Whatsoever, the state government to sustain its corruption ridden government, is systematically destroying the anti-graft institutions. First it was Lokayukta, now the BMTF.
That is all.
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