BDA shelves drone survey after govt rejects fund request

Bengaluru: The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has cut down its expenditure to Rs 3 crore by reducing the scope of work related to the preparation of a drone survey. 

Abandoning the drone survey comes after the Finance Department turned down the BDA’s request for Rs 12.5 crore to the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Centre (KSRSAC).

The revised proposal has, however, raised questions over the necessity of the BDA’s original plan, which was nearly four times costlier.

While the old proposal advocates using the existing drone data available with the KSRSAC along with some allied services, the original plan involved a fresh exercise. 

The BDA was forced to rework the proposal after the Finance Department refused to award the Rs 12.5-crore work to the KSRSAC under 4 (G) of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, which sought exemption from floating tenders. The department instead advised the BDA to use the existing data. 

The drone data, officials in the BDA say, is important as it helps prepare the baseline for the Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2041 and plan Bengaluru’s outskirts better.

The BDA currently follows RMP 2015, an outdated plan used by the authority to issue a change of land use (CLU) through public notification.

The present practice is seen as an ad hoc measure by urban planning experts and shrouded in corruption. 

BDA Commissioner N Jayaram said the authority would not be in a position to start the work on the fresh master plan until the baseline data is ready.

"We have sought the government’s approval. The KSRSAC is also trying to come up with a general guideline that will enable different departments to make use of their data easily,” he told DH.