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Under fire, BMC wants Swiss auditors out

Friday, 02 August 2013 09:38 administrator
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The Indian Express              02.08.2013

Under fire, BMC wants Swiss auditors out

Under fire for the poor condition of roads, BMC's standing committee Thursday deferred a proposal to reappoint third party auditors SGS Consultancy for inspecting roads in the western suburbs.

The civic administration had proposed to reappoint the Swiss firm for Rs 11 crore for the third consecutive year since 2011. Sending back the proposal, standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale shifted the blame for bad roads on the firm and demanded that the civic administration hold a tendering procedure to appoint another third party auditor for BMC roads.

"SGS has been the third party quality auditor for the last two years. Yet the fact that the road condition has worsened reflects on the quality of the firm's report," Shewale said.

BJP member of the committee Manoj Kotak said, "If the corporation has fixed the responsibility for maintaining the quality of roads on SGS, the quality should have improved in the last two years. However, that has not happened, so the company should not be reappointed unless the corporation clearly fixes responsibility for bad roads on certain engineers or officers."

Congress corporator and member of the standing committee Asif Zakaria demanded a white paper from the civic administration detailing the work carried out by contractors related to road works in the last one year.

"There is no accountability of these companies. BMC pays them without fail yet people continue to suffer because of poor quality of work," Zakaria said.

In early 2012, a PIL was filed in Bombay High Court against the civic body for appointing SGS as its road works auditor for roughly Rs 7 crore without inviting bids. However the court ruled in favour of the corporation saying, "Such an order, if passed, may completely thwart the intention of BMC to appoint an authority to assess its own performance and would go against public interest."

Last week, the standing committee, facing flak for poor quality road works, blamed former additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta, then in-charge of the roads department, for the city's bad roads. Gupta, now Thane municipal commissioner, said road works had been intentionally delayed by certain parties in the corporation. "Third party audits were introduced during my tenure in BMC and I believe they are an extremely important factor for ensuring quality of road works. This aspect of road works should by no means be scrapped if the road quality in Mumbai is to be improved," he had said.  

 

BMC wants more third-party auditors

Friday, 02 August 2013 09:21 administrator
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Hindustan Times                 02.08.2013

BMC wants more third-party auditors

Not satisfied with the auditing agency appointed to check the quality of road work, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is now planning to spend more of the taxpayers' money.

The civic body is considering appointing a panel of third party auditors to keep an eye on the work done by its contractors and road engineers.

“We have decided to have three to four consultants to check the road work. The commissioner has agreed as it will ensure better roads in the future,” said SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.

In 2011, the BMC, had appointed an independent third party agency, SGS Consultants, to conduct quality audit of major roads in the city .

SGS Consultants has been carrying out laboratory tests and monitoring the road work carried out by the contractors.

A total of Rs11 crore has been spent on the agency since 2011 to carry out the audits.

Claiming that the auditing agency was equally responsible for the pitiable condition of the roads, the civic standing committee on Thursday rejected a proposal to re- appoint them for the 2013-14 in the western suburbs.

The corporators have accused the agency of unsatisfactory work.

“The roads that they audited before the onset of monsoon are currently in the worst condition. Their work is not up to mark and there is no reason why we should reappoint them,” said Rahul Shewale, chairman, standing committee.

 

'Rs 17,802 crore spent on roads'

Thursday, 01 August 2013 11:12 administrator
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The New Indian Express           01.08.2013

'Rs 17,802 crore spent on roads'

In the past 10 years, the Bangalore City Corporation has spent Rs 17,802 crore on asphalting roads, said Yediyur councillor N R Ramesh.

Speaking at the council meeting, Ramesh said that from 2003 to 2007, the then Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) had spent Rs 6,460.76 crore. Interestingly, there were only three zones at the time. Five more zones were added in 2007 and the BMP became BBMP. During the period (2007-10), when the administrator was in charge of BBMP, it spent `8798.69 crore. Since the councillors were elected in the past three years (2010-2013), Rs 2,540 crore has been spent.

Ramesh said by spending so much money, all roads in the state could have been developed. “Now, with the GIS tag, all roads in Bangalore have a unique code. With this, road history has to be maintained. This will avoid duplication of works,” he said. He alleged the involvement of officials in road contracts and demanded an inquiry.

BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayana said an official committee will be constituted to look into spending on road works.

 
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