’Get working, you donkey-grazers’

BSY pulls up bureaucrats in public, says a farmer's son can do better work than them

'Get working, you donkey-grazers'

BSY pulls up bureaucrats in public, says a farmer's son can do better work than them

Bureaucrats squirmed at a public function yesterday when the chief minister called them donkey-grazers and squarely blamed them for the city's perpetual work in progress.

At the launch of Kendra Sarige and Big 10 bus services in the city, the CM asked: "Katte kayakke bartira?" (Do you come here to look after donkeys?), angry over the delay in construction works.

"You take five to six months to pass a tender and then one year to begin work. For this, you need to be an IAS, IPS? A farmer's son can do better work than you. Don't you feel ashamed? Don't you feel insulted?" he thundered.

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There was more to come. "You first begin laying roads and then break the pipe lines and stall work to repair the pipe lines. Don't you know that the pipe lines should be moved before beginning the work?"

He instructed that all tenders be processed within a month. "You take 10 years to complete one project. By that time,u00a0 the cost would have increased tenfold. Whose money is it? Whose father's money," he yelled.

He harked back to Visveswaraya. "He built the K R Dam. Can any one of you build such a dam? He was one, you are so many. Still, you people can't do anything. For everything, you need time," he said.

The CM has asked the BBMP to submit a report on the progress of work every week. "S Subramanya (BBMP commissioner), I want a report every week. Don't you take a salary? I appreciate your work, but you can do better," he said.

'Not corrupt'

Yeddyurappa also used the opportunity to clear his image saying he was not corrupt. "I don't know any contractor who undertakes BBMP works. I don't know which contractors do the work and I have not met them.

Show me one contractor that I know. You ask for a free hand. How much more of a free hand do you want? Get the work done fast and produce the bill," he said.

Meanwhile, the bureaucrats could only bitterly mutter among themselves: "As if you'd meet the contractors in front of us."