Hans News Service Bengaluru

TheBengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP) has formally filed two separate complaints with the Karnataka Lokayukta, demanding a thorough investigation into the irregular allocation and diversion of public money meant for the development of road infrastructure in the city. This follows the party’s expose that revealed serious irregularities in how the funds were used across 28 constituencies. In its complaint, BNP has demanded a comprehensive, transparent audit of the Rs 2,000 crore package and the immediate rollback of the unequal fund distribution.

“We believe that a formal complaint with the Lokayukta was the next logical step towards forcing accountability from the authorities. We officially recorded our dissatisfaction that large sums from the Rs 2,000 crore package meant for road development has been channelled into the construction of MLA offices, name boards, and multi-purpose buildings that have nothing to do with road safety. Bengaluru has become the deadliest metroplitan city for deaths due to civic negligence, primarily due to short term responses taking precedence over the root cause.

“Every single day, citizens are suffering, navigating hazardous potholes, severe waterlogging, and crumbling infrastructure that put lives at risk.

The government needs to be empathetic to the daily struggles of the public and prioritize basic human safety over political manoeuvring. It is unacceptable that funds explicitly meant for road upgrades are being callously diverted to disconnected political projects.”

Both complaints highlight a systemic misuse and partisan distribution of public funds earmarked for road development in Bengaluru. Specifically, the complaints allege that the Rs 2,000 crore allocation across 28 constituencies was pushed through without any disclosed objective formula, resulting in disproportionately higher funding being allocated to Congress run constituencies compared to opposition run constituencies.

The complaints further state that over 30% of the Rs 2,000 crore Action Plan (Rs 662 crore) includes projects with substantial non-road components with approximately Rs 274 crore has been allocated to 60 standalone projects that are entirely unrelated to road infrastructure, raising serious questions about the legality of their inclusion in a road infrastructure grant.