On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) headquarters, intensifying its investigation into allegations of corruption linked to borewells and reverse osmosis (RO) water systems. The inquiry is expected to last for three days as the ED scrutinizes financial records and related documents.
The investigation traces back to 2019, when former BJP councillor N R Ramesh filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau, accusing BBMP officials of irregularities in a water project. In 2022, the ED recorded his statement and reviewed the detailed evidence he provided, including a 40-page report detailing the alleged discrepancies.
The controversy centers around a 2016 project where ₹970 crore was allocated for drilling borewells and installing RO systems to improve Bengaluru’s water access. BBMP claimed to have completed over 8,400 borewells and installed nearly 700 RO plants in multiple wards. However, Ramesh argued that only 20% of the work was genuinely completed, and the rest was fabricated. He alleges that BBMP officials and contractors manipulated records to divert over ₹400 crore.
During the raid, ED officials examined documents at the office of BBMP Engineer-in-Chief B S Prahlad and requested additional files from various zonal offices. BBMP staff have been reportedly cooperating with the ongoing probe.
Meanwhile, BBMP is also facing criticism over errors in a ₹9.5 crore underground tunnel project report.
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