The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has cleared about 84% of total pending bills under Amrutha Nagarothana scheme, officials said.
The data shared by the Finance Department of the BBMP shows that the civic body has released ₹2,700 crore in 2023-24. The total pending bill was ₹3,200 crore. The bills were pending from the past two years.
The breakup shows that the money was released to the BBMP in four tranches and in each tranche, ₹675 crore was given. The BBMP also cleared the bills as and when civic body received the cash. However, the BBMP has yet to clear the additional grant of ₹500 crore that it received in the fifth tranche.
BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance), Shivananda Kalakere talking to The Hindu said for the payment of additional grant which is pending, the Finance Department will put up a request for approval after the completion of the Lok Sabha elections on June 4. These bills were pending under Amrutha Nagarothana scheme for which grants are allocated by the state government to the BBMP.
Asked why contractors are unhappy despite BBMP making almost 84% payment, he said the contractors have problems with pending payments of work completed under BBMP grants between 2019-20 and 2022-23. “We have now managed to clear at least ₹1000 crore out of ₹3,258 crore,” he said. He added that he would shortly set up a meeting with the contractors to address the issues. After elections, the pending bills under BBMP grants will be cleared month-on-month, he said.
The BBMP started clearing the bills under BBMP funds in September 2023. In the first tranche, the BBMP released ₹411 crore, which is 12% of the total pending sum.
BBMP Contractors’ Association president, K.T. Manjunath said there was not much problem with Amrutha Nagarothana funds. The money was being released every quarter once the payment started. But in February 2023, the payment again stopped and about ₹675 crore was released in September 2023.
Mr. Manjunath alleged the BBMP released only ₹700 crore and not ₹1000 crore as was claimed by the Finance Department. On the other hand, the civic body has brought back randomisation system which will further delay payment and allow illegal practices, he added.
