BMC pays global prices for local product

Mumbai : The BMC has received a complaint regarding alleged corruption of Rs 3.62 crore in acquisition of 31 Integrated Anaesthesia Work Stations with built in ventilators and monitors for Mumbai’s hospitals. The BMC purchased 51 such machines in 2013 from contractor Universal Organics which claimed that the machines will be procured from an England-based company. These equipments were to be installed in Mumbai’s hospitals to treat poor patients. However, the municipal corporation received complaints about substandard products. The complainant claimed that 20 machines were original but 31 out of the 51, which were procured later, were duplicate machines, procured domestically but charged according to international prices. The complainant claimed that all papers for these 31 machines were forged by the vendor who evaded customs duty and octroi duty. The vendor, Universal Organics has now been blacklisted by the BMC for any future contracts and its pending bills with the BMC are forfeited.