The KRIDL tender scam in Bengaluru is one of the least discussed civic scandals in the city. While many people have heard about the coal scam or the 2G scam, very few know about how thousands of crores worth of civic works were given without tender to KRIDL (Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited).

This KRIDL 4(g) scam revolves around the misuse of tender exemptions meant only for emergency works. Instead, the exemption clause was used to award routine projects such as roads, drains, and streetlights without any competitive tender process. Nearly ₹4,700 crore worth of public works handed over without tender, raising serious questions about transparency and public accountability.

I remember the moment this issue first struck me. About six years ago, I was driving on a road that had been freshly laid. The paint was new, the signboards still shiny—but the road itself was already cracking and broken in places.

I remember thinking to myself: How are crores of rupees sanctioned for roads that break in weeks? I actually said to myself, “Something doesn’t add up here.”

After researching the data, I found the answer in a scandal most citizens have never heard of: The 4(g) Scam. This is about how tender exemptions meant for emergencies were misused to quietly drain public money in Bengaluru.

At the centre of this is Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL).

KRIDL is a government agency called Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL). It was formed in 1971 (earlier known as the Directorate of Land Army). Its original purpose was simple: to carry out essential and emergency rural infrastructure works, quickly and without middlemen.

But that’s not how it was used.

Over time, KRIDL began taking up routine civic works in Bengaluru—roads, drains, streetlights, CCTV cameras. These are works that should normally have been done by the erstwhile
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Note: The project data discussed below relates to the period 2015–2020, when the municipal authority was called BBMP. While the data predates the transition to the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), the responsibility for accountability today lies with the current GBA administration.

Not just that—KRIDL was blacklisted by BBMP not once, but twice.  Despite this troubled history, it continued to receive more and more projects.

Why?

This is where the scam gets its name. Section 4(g) of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act (KTPPA) allows tender exemptions, but only for urgent works, specialised works, or emergency situations. Instead, this clause was misused and almost all kinds of civic works were handed over to KRIDL without any tendering process at all.

4(g) Scam: Bengaluru Civic Projects Given Without Tender and No Accountability

KRIDL would subcontract these works to the same private contractors, add around 20% commission, and provide little to no supervision. That said, you can already imagine the result-poor-quality work, incomplete projects and roads that break even before they age.

Ghost Projects and Inflated Bills: How Bengaluru’s Civic Works Were Manipulated

What truly shocked me was the scale of what BNP’s research uncovered. Across 198 old wards, BNP analysed BBMP’s ward-level projects from the last five years:

• 63,629 projects approved
• ₹21,653 crore total approved value

But:

• Only 28,314 projects were executed or under execution
• Actual execution value: ₹10,018 crore

Most alarming of all:

• Nearly 50% of executed projects
• Worth ₹4,721 crore
• Were handed to KRIDL without any tender

Your Tax Money and the GBA Tender Scandal in Bengaluru

Why Transparency Is the Only Answer?

When agencies like this can quietly drain public money, citizens need something and someone  that actually puts the facts out in the open.

That’s why BNP created BRIGHT — an open, citizen-friendly portal. A portal that provides ward-wise civic deails.

Through BRIGHT, BNP has published:

• BBMP project data (2015–2020)
• Ward-wise (old wards)
• Approved vs executed amounts
• Contractor details

This level of transparency is rare in Indian city governance.

No other political party has publicly released this scale of ward-level project data for citizens to examine.

Not even the city administration itself has presented the information in such an accessible way.

What Citizens Can Do?

Citizens who want to understand how public money is being spent can visit BNP’s website: https://nammabnp.org

. Under the “Bengalurigas Hub” tab, you will find the BRIGHT page.

On this page, you can choose your ward from the dropdown list to see details of all approved and executed civic projects in your ward, including spending patterns and project information.

Tools like this make it easier for citizens to understand how public funds are being used in their neighbourhoods.

The KRIDL tender scam in Bengaluru raises serious questions about how public infrastructure projects are awarded and monitored. When thousands of crores worth of civic works can be given without a transparent tender process, citizens are left wondering whether accountability mechanisms are working at all. The misuse of the 4(g) tender exemption clause shows how easily systems meant for emergencies can be exploited if public oversight is weak.

If citizens can see the data, track the money, and question the work, shouldn’t that be the norm in every city?

Maybe the real issue isn’t that scams exist.
Maybe it’s that we’ve stopped asking where our money goes.
And accountability begins the moment citizens start asking those questions again.

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Nandini V Menasagi is a volunteer Media Co-ordinator for BNP with a background in journalism. She has managed media literacy projects and conducted sessions for diverse communities, from students and senior citizens to dry waste collection workers. Nandini joined BNP because she believes that while national parties focus on high-level politics, Bengaluru finally has a platform that truly cares for the “pothole next door” and the neighborhood drain—the issues that matter most to our daily lives.

By Nandini V Menasagi  • February 18, 2026