The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which has found itself under the lens due to the tremendous corruption and irregularities in the road contracts of the island city has once again managed to grab eyeballs due to its allocation of works yet again to a couple of accused contractors.
Already there have been FIR’s lodged on six of the contractors, who have been found guilty of shoddy works. But not learning from any of their past mistakes, BMC has gone ahead and awarded two of the six accused M/s RPS Infra Projects and M/s J Kumar works at Hackock Yari Road, Mithi River and Vikhroli Flyover.
To add salt to the wound, BMC has also managed to help them get listed as one of the party to fill in the tender for the ambitious Rs.1300 crore project of the Goregaon-Mulund link road. After RTI Activist Anil Galgali demanded for Maharashtra Lokayukta Justice (retd) M L Tahaliyani to inquire the entire episode and accordingly initiate action on the BMC and its officials responsible for creating such a mess. He ordered for a probe into the civic body’s new awarded contracts.
In his letter to the Lokayukta, Anil Galgali has expressed his displeasure and surprise at the attitude of the BMC who on one side has lodged FIR’s and on the second hand goes out of the way to promote these firms in getting works. Also the biggest surprise comes or rather it invites suspicion on the attitude of the BMC, who have helped these two companies to get works for the Goregaon-Mulund Link road project. As usual, at the end of short listing of tendering only two companies were left who were to compete against each other for the work to get allocated. This is surely inviting suspicion against the BMC, quips Galgali.
Anil Galgali said, “I have urged the Lokayukta to get factual reports from the Municipal Commissioner for the works happening at the Hackock, Yari Road, Mithi River and Vikhroli Flyover and the tendering process of Goregaon-Mulund link road. The institution should initiate action against these six contractors who have been found guilty, alongside the officials involved and stop this practice of fooling Mumbaikars.”
