The Indian Express           05.08.2013

BMC moves to keep out blacklisted contractors

BMC has now announced a new vendor management system that will be incorporated in the e-tender system to prevent blacklisted contractors from bidding for civic works again.

In a meeting with Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) president Janardhan Chandurkar and other party members, including Congress corporators Dnyanraj Nikam and Pravin Chheda, Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte said, "If we find that the work specifications are not adhered to when filling potholes, we will blacklist the contractors. To ensure that blacklisted companies do not participate again in BMC's bidding procedures, we are going to use a vendor management system wherein all the contractors are registered with their PAN cards, names and background information. This will help us prevent the possibility of their re-entry through proxy companies," said Kunte.

Additional municipal commissioner S V R Srinivas added the vendor management system concept was at a nascent stage. "This system should be able to keep track of the company's performance, rate their attendance to problems and award them points on various performance factors," he said.

In June, the BMC appointed 14 contractors for filling potholes across the city at a cost of Rs 59 crore. Last week, in addition to slapping fines on these contractors to the tune of Rs 2.05 crore, the contract of Atasha Ashirwad — in-charge of filling potholes in the K-East (Andheri east, Vile Parle) and R-Central (Kandivali, Borivali) wards — was also cancelled.

In a meeting with contractors and road engineers Saturday, Kunte demanded that all roads used for transporting Ganpati idols be cleared of potholes by month-end. "We are taking steps to ensure that Dahi Handi and Ganpati celebrations are not disturbed by potholes," Kunte said.

"If citizens are unable to lodge pothole complaints on the website, they can call in pothole complaints on the BMC helpline number 1916," he added.

Srinivas said road engineers in-charge of specific roads in the city would also conduct a sample check of pothole-ridden roads in other parts of Mumbai.

"They have filed their first 10-day report and we are analysing these but we have also asked them to assigned them new roads for the next week. If they fail the quality test, we will see what action has to be taken," Srinivas said.

He added that after the standing committee deferred approving a proposal to reappoint SGS Consultants as the third party auditor for road works in the western suburbs, BMC will now form a panel of third party auditors for inspecting works in the city.