BANGALORE: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) on Tuesday sought additional grants of over Rs. 200 crores from the State Government to clear pending bills of contractors and also to expedite development works in the city.

Mayor Mumtaz Begum, who led a delegation of chairpersons of the eight standing committees in the BMP Council and leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), presented a memorandum to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy seeking more funds.

Though the visit was supposed to be a "courtesy call" on the new Chief Minister, the Mayor said the members used the opportunity to apprise the Government about the problems faced by the civic body.

Pointing out that contractors bills are pending for the last 11 months, the Mayor said the BMP needs additional funds to clear all backlogs and take up new works.

Tenders

Tenders for the second package of "Complete Blacktop" asphalting have received a good response this time, and contractors have agreed for rates above 10 per cent of scheduled rates, official sources said.

The BMP earlier announced that it will decide on allotting work in bigger packages to major construction companies after February 3, the last date given to contractors to apply for road works.

"The response is good this time and the technical bids have already been opened. We will open the financial bids in a day or two and issue work orders for all packages by February 15," the sources said.

No prizes

The second day of the "spot a pothole and win Rs 100" passed away without acknowledging any prize-winning crater.

While over 25 calls were received altogether at the three zonal offices, none of the potholes were located in the identified stretches, officials in-charge of the contest said.

"We are taking the calls seriously and passing on the pothole location details to the engineers concerned," the officials added.

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