The Indian Express   20.08.2012

Civic body wants to check ‘viability’ of low rates quoted

After civil works contractors (CWC) tendered abnormally low bids to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for procuring petty contracts in the 24 civic administrative wards and four hospitals in the city, the civic administration will conduct a ‘viability test’ of such low rates.

The BMC has instructed these 31 contractors to carry out the petty civil works at rates quoted by them, after which the work will be monitored by a third party auditor and a final report will then be submitted to the administration.

The viability test is aimed at verifying whether all the 31 contractors from the 24 wards will actually be able to complete the work within their estimates, said officials.

The civil works contracts include all minor ward-level civil works such as repairs and maintenance of internal roads, streetlights, footpaths and so on.

A senior civic official said the contractors would be asked to undertake selected contracts on a pilot basis. These contractors will have to provide supporting documents and authentic bills of all the materials procured to prove that they have completed the works based on the rates quoted by them, he said.

These works and the bills will be scrutinised by the civic administration’s vigilance department and the third party auditor, after which the final contracts will be awarded, said the official.

The decision to conduct viability tests was taken after 116 contractors had quoted unusually low bids for carrying out petty civil works in 24 wards.

In June, the renewed civil works contracts were put on hold after the BMC officials were not satisfied with the justifications presented by 31 shortlisted contractors for the low bids.

Despite cutting down the number of contractors from 110 to 31 to curb malpractices in ward-level petty works, the contractors bid as much as 60 per cent lower than the market rate, raising serious concerns over the quality of work delivered.

An internal note circulated by chief accountant (finance) Ram Dhas in April had accused the ward-level CWC contractors of siphoning BMC money by getting work orders sanctioned for works that were not required and doing shoddy work.

The Indian Express   18.08.2012

Civic panel’s decision invites protest

Two days after the standing committee approved a proposal to appoint private contractor to run a slaughter house in Kondhwa, citizens’ groups and social organisations on Friday staged a demonstration outside the civic headquarters demanding the decision be cancelled. The PMC general body too witnessed pandemonium after the elected representatives of the BJP and Shiv Sena raised the issue in the house.

The security at the civic building was tightened after the protesters assembled outside the building and raised slogans. They called off their agitation only after assurance from ruling NCP and Congress leaders.

Meanwhile, the elected representatives of the BJP and Shiv Sena in the civic body took on the ruling alliance for approving such a proposal. They raised slogans against the decision and demanded its cancellation with immediate effect. “The facility of the civic body is likely to be misused by the private contractor for exporting flesh from the slaughter house,” said Srinath Bhimale of BJP. He said the party will continue its stir against the decision as it is not in the interest of citizens.

With the opposition not allowing smooth functioning of the general body meeting, Mayor Vaishali Bankar adjourned the house.