Bengaluru flood exposé: Commission raj corrodes IT hub’s civic infrastructure

A well-oiled nexus of local politicians, civic engineers and contractors commissioned for building city infrastructure seems to be lying at the root of Bengaluru’s crumbling public works.

Bulldozers rumbled through Bengaluru, clearing encroachments and illegal constructions which had been blamed for flooding the IT city lashed by torrential rains earlier this month.

“Bengaluru witnessed this kind of rains after 1998,” said the city’s chief municipal commissioner, Tushar Giri Nath, on September 6. “We are trying to set things right. We will demolish illegal encroachment in the days to come,” he said.

But an India Today investigation has found the malaise afflicting Karnataka’s capital might be running deeper.

A well-oiled nexus of local politicians, civic engineers and contractors commissioned for building city infrastructure seems to be lying at the root of Bengaluru’s crumbling public works.

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At a time when the opposition in Karnataka has renewed the charge that civil contractors pay a 40 per cent cut for every project, India Today’s probe found the scourge might not be limited to a single political party. All-pervasive corruption could have compromised quality controls in infrastructure development brazenly over the years, the investigation discovered.

When probed, KT Manjunath, president of the association of contractors for the city municipality, revealed how municipal engineers and inspectors issue completion certificates for shoddy public works in exchange for bribes.