BBMP pushing hard to make online processing and payment of contractor bills a permanent feature

BENGALURU: With a new elected council set to take over the reins of the city's administration, the municipal corporation is pushing hard to make online processing and payment of contractor bills a permanent feature in the interest of greater transparency .

There are about 2,000 contractors engaged with various kinds of projects in the city and their bills run into hundreds of crores of rupees. The techenabled system of payments designed by a city-based firm has removed the scope for human intervention and manipulation. BBMP Administrator TM Vijay Bhaskar has written to the government requesting it to formalise the new system so that the civic body will not go back to the old ways. Bhaskar and his team have increased transparency on the BBMP website which now contains details about the projects awarded, proof of completion and payments made. Since June 3, the civic body has been paying directly to the bank accounts of contractors through real-time gross settlement (RTGS).

D Satya Murthy , Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development), confirmed that the government is seized of the administrator's request. "We have no issues with the proposal. It has gone to the chief minister for his approval," he said. According to Bhaskar, once the government issues an order, the BBMP will be bound to comply. When an elected council ruled the BBMP , contractors with influence or money power used to get their money first, regardless of when they submitted their bills. The new system goes by seniority of claims.

"Our software covers the entire workflow chain from approval of works to their completion, proofs and payment. We developed own software to suit the BBMP's needs using the open source technology ," said KM Krishna Murthy , CEO at Vallabha Software Solutions. " All the bills are available for public view. Every bit of documents related to contracts is uploaded," he added.

According to BBMP Contractors Association president R Ambikapathy the online system has saved them from dealing with officials at 2030 desks and having to pay bribes.

"We hope the government ensures the new system continues even after the elected council takes over.Otherwise, contractors will have to pay up to 20% of the bill amount to get their bills cleared," he said.