Thane: In order to make every department of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) smart with technology, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was introduced in the city in 2019 through the Department of Information and Technology. The project was expected to be completed within a year.
However, the project has been stalled for the last three years and only 5 per cent of the work has been completed by the contractor.
Meanwhile, the civic body has paid more than 10 per cent of the project's bill of around Rs 14 crore. This was revealed in response to an RTI querry filed by Swapnil Mahindrakar, city president, of the public interest and legal department of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Thane.
Speaking with The Free Press Journal, Mahindrakar said, “Through the ERP project, the work of various departments of the Thane civic body including as solid waste management, public works department, establishment, fire, property, audit, law, warehouse, public works, security, social welfare, water supply department, birth and death departments was to made smarter using technology under the Smart City project.”
According to Mahindrakar, the website of the Thane Smart City project is not working from last one month.
“Information about the works that were being carried under the Smart City in Thane was available on this website. Thanekars could obtain information on how much work on a particular project has been completed and what percentage is left. But due to the civic body's mismanagement, the website has been non-functional since last month,” Mahindrakar alleged.
Mahindrakar further added that ERP project would have brought good discipline to the Thane civic employees.
“Today in many departments of the civic body, employees are seen arriving after 11 am and leaving at 4 pm. If the project would have been implemented then it would have brought discipline to the latecomers,” he said.
When asked about the irregularities in the ERP project, TMC additional commissioner and Thane Smart City chief executive officer, Sandeep Malvi told the FPJ correspondent: “There is a delay in the project but we haven't cleared the bills of the contractor. The contractor has said that he will be giving a presentation about the nodules and from there on the work will progress soon.”
