The passing of proposals by the BMC at the end of its tenure seems to be a pandora’s box, with the BJP consistently alleging subterfuge on part of the Shiv Sena for passing of the proposals left, right and centre.
A day after BJP leader Ameet Satam alleged a scam in floating a tender for a tunnel laundry for BMC hospitals, Ravi Raja, the former opposition leader of the BMC and Congress corporator, raised the issue of road repairs and road concretisation in the city. Raja has written to the additional municipal commissioner (projects) P Velarasu, stating that proposals for road concretisation were passed in December 2021 and January this year in the standing committee, with the promise that the work order would immediately be issued, but haven’t been done so far.
In December alone, around 40 proposals worth Rs 1,786 crore were passed for road repairs despite opposition from the Samajwadi Party and the BJP corporators. Velarasu did not reply to the Free Press Journal’s query in this regard.
The administration had planned to use ducts for water and sewage pipelines, and cable lines for road construction and repairs. For the duct system, the civic body had sought suggestions from a consultant, who is yet to file a report.
This has allegedly led to a delay in road repairs, which is an integral part of pre-monsoon work. Raja alleged that no road work has been initiated from April 2021 to March 2022.
Raja said that construction of Hemant Manjrekar and Shankar Yagnik roads in his constituency at Antop Hill has not begun despite the ground-breaking ceremony. He added, “Proposals worth Rs 2,200 crores were passed for 260 roads. What happened to that? Last month, the BMC administration thought of making ducts with a diameter of 11 metres. Suggestions were sought on that but nothing has been done. Since December, the work has not progressed.”
In December, when the proposals were passed, the main contention of the BJP and the Samajwadi Party corporators was quality control as well as inspection of roads from a third-party auditor. The BJP corporators boycotted the meeting, with chairman Yashwant Jadhav asking additional commissioner Sanjiv Kumar to ensure the audit.
BJP group leader Prabhakar Shinde had told the standing committee that “proposals which are 30-34 per cent less than the estimated cost have been accepted by the administration”.
Further, Samajwadi Party corporator Raees Shaikh had told the standing committee that the administration has been working on the tender process since April 2021. Questioning the delay, he said, “No one will ask the administration but we corporators have to give answers to the public.” He further alleged that some tainted contractors who were debarred five years ago also participated in the tender.
The road repair works have been tendered twice. The first tenders were floated in April 2021 but later scrapped in September.
On September 13, Velarasu, in his letter, had sought justification from the deputy municipal commissioner (infrastructure) on how the quality will be maintained amid such quotes. The BMC had then re-floated all the bids, citing quality concerns, and finally approved the tender in December for 18 per cent less.
