Bengalur

BDA draws brickbats as auction of corner sites goes for a toss

Extends deadline after e-procurement portal breaks down

Online bidding for coveted corner sites of the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) was disrupted on Tuesday on account of technical snags. The problem occurred during the last hour of bidding on the e-procurement portal, forcing the authority to postpone the deadline for bids from Tuesday to 6 p.m. on Wednesday (July 8).

The BDA had opened the e-auction from June 20 to auction close to 200 corner sites in various layouts in the city. Bidding was scheduled to end on July 7 at 6 p.m.

Around 2,000 people had registered for the bidding process. However, just half-an-hour before closing the auction, the e-procurement portal developed a technical snag.

Upset bidders posted images of the blank page of the portal on social media. One bidder, who shared his experience on social media, said: “BDA does not have minimum common sense to maintain good server capacity for closure of bids.”

BDA officials said that the system developed technical snags as hundreds of people started bidding at the same time. The development authority’s PRO Gireesha L.P. said that the commissioner, after a meeting with officials, extended the deadline. He said that the e-procurement portal is handled by the State’s centre for e-governance.

In mid-April, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had said that auctioning of 12,000 BDA sites will help generate ₹15,000 crore in revenue for the State government. After his announcement, the BDA took a decision to auction corner sites in H.S.R. Layout, Banashankari, Sir M. Visvesvaraya and other layouts.

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