The Hindu : `BMP accounting system a model for other cities'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 11, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`BMP accounting system a model for other cities'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE FEB. 10. The Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) anticipates that all urban local bodies in the country will adopt the Fund-Based Accounting System (FBAS) in 15 years.

The BATF member and spokesperson, V. Ravichander, said here on Monday that the FBAS, evolved to ensure transparency in accounting in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), had won accolades all over the country, and several municipal bodies were eager to adopt it.

Presenting a report on the BATF's performance at the first pre-summit session (the task force will hold its summit on February 15), Mr. Ravichander said the Commissioner of the Mumbai City corporation recently visited Bangalore to study the feasibility of adopting the FBAS in that city.

He said the BATF had spent over Rs. 1.7 crore in the past three years on implementing the FBAS and improving the accounting system of the BMP to international standards.

Mr. Ravichander listed the BATF's "success stories". These were: the BMP's property tax Self-Assessment Scheme, modern bus shelters, `Swacha Bangaluru', `Nirmala toilets', infrastructure development by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), and the one-way-traffic system. The BATF had acted as a catalyst in the implementation of the projects, he said.

BDA's report

Earlier, making a presentation on the BDA's performance, the Commissioner of the authority, Jayakar Jerome, said it had kept its commitments made at previous BATF summits and done much more. The BDA had distributed 40,000 sites against the target of 30,000 sites. The Outer Ring Road (ORR) was completed, and three new layouts were formed at Anjanapura, Banashankari Sixth Stage, and Kengeri in the past three years, he said.

The BDA's budget had increased to Rs. 823 crore from Rs. 182 crore, and the organisation was listed in the National Stock Exchange, he added.

Construction of roads, over-bridges and under-bridges, flyovers at Whitefield, Benniganahalli, and the longest bridge in Bangalore on the ORR had been completed. Flyovers were being built near Hebbal and on Hosur Road, Mr. Jerome said.

He said that as part of its commitment to improve the City, the BDA was rejuvenating three lakes and developing a green tract of over 400 acres in Banashankari Sixth Stage.

BSNL's performance

The Principal General Manager of Bangalore Telecom District, B.R. Baliga, said that in the past three years, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) had increased its landline capacity from seven lakhs to 11.67 lakhs.

It had been successful in reducing the landline fault rate to 2.6 lines per 1,000 connections as against the target of three lines per 1,000 connections.

Presenting a report on the BSNL's performance, he said 90 per cent of complaints about repairs were being attended to within 24 hours.

The BSNL was not able to provide telephones on demand in some areas, Mr. Baliga said, and added it needed time to augment its landline network.

Bandwidth on demand, ISDN lines, Internet service, MPLS-based VPN services, MLLN, and Intelligent network were the other services available, he said.

The BSNL had initiated several customer-friendly measures, and provided GSM mobile telephones, WLL mobile phones, and WLL fixed phones in the past three years, Mr. Baliga said.

The BMP, the City police, and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will make their presentations on Tuesday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

New President for Bangalore Urban ZP

Khivraj Motors opens high-tech facility

BSNL opens new customer service centre

Dacoits take away cash from petrol bunk

`BMP accounting system a model for other cities'