Mira Bhyandar: MBMC's ₹ 750 crore garbage lifting tender under scanner for alleged anomalies

Mira Bhayandar: Always in the news mostly for the wrong reasons, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) is once again under the scanner for alleged anomalies in the Rs750-crore garbage lifting tender process which smacks of favouritism to certain politically-backed bidders for a period of five years.

After mysteriously shying away from floating tenders for more than five years, the MBMC had recently invited combined bids for zone 1 and zone 2 which carry an estimated price tag of Rs64 crore and Rs92 crore annually. Four bidders including Global Waste Management, Konark, Antony Waste Handling and R and B Infra are in the race to bag the multi-crore contract envisaging lifting of garbage from the twin-city and ferrying it to the dump yard at Dhaavgi village in Uttan.

However, citing anomalies like tailoring the eligibility criteria to suit predetermined bidders, R and B Infra has sought judicial intervention by filing a writ petition in the Bombay High Court. Armed with substantial evidence, the petitioner has stated that while Global Waste Management had been blacklisted by another civic body, documents submitted by Konark showed that it was also not eligible to participate in the bidding process.

“It’s true that one of the bidders has moved the court. However, the process is transparent and aimed at competitive bidding. There are no such restrictions or stay on the tender process which is delayed due to the imposition of the model code of conduct,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ravi Pawar.

Although no stay has been imposed, the court has made it clear that further process would be subject to the decision of the writ petition. While the technical and price bids have already been opened, the next hearing is scheduled on January 18.

On extension mode for 5 years
In 2012, the MBMC had inked a five-year contract with Global Waste Management to lift garbage from Mira-Bhayandar and ferry it to the dump yard. Ironically, the agency has been on-extension mode since the expiry of the tender in 2017. The twin-city generates an average of 450 metric tonnes of garbage per day.