Mohali’s renewed sanitation contracts expire tomorrow

As the renewed contracts for undertaking sanitation works in Mohali expire on Thursday, the local Municipal Council (MC) has risen from slumber but at the eleventh hour. To ensure that the renewed sanitation contracts are extended further without calling fresh bids, for which there is no time left, the civic body on Tuesday called a special MC House meeting for Thursday to take up the issue.

Accusing the Opposition of delaying the process to invite fresh bids to award the sanitation contracts, MC President Rajinder Rana said that an agenda item to discuss the award of sanitation contracts was also brought in the MC meeting held on September 23 but that meeting was postponed by the majority vote of the Opposition group. “Now, we will renew the present contracts with immediate effect for at least two months before initiating the process of inviting fresh bids, if the House so desires,” the Congress-supported MC chief told Newsline.

The Opposition group, owing allegiance to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which has a majority of 17 councillors in the House of 29 councillors, has termed it another tactic of the ruling group to circumvent rules in the allotment of sanitation contracts.

Bedi, who had exposed major irregularities in the previously allotted sanitation contracts at Rs 1.5 crore per annum, said, “Not only have the present contract amounts been proposed to be increased, another contract of lifting garbage from collection points to dumping grounds has been proposed to b

Accusing the ruling group of being “neck deep in corruption” and not even sparing one of the basic amenities, sanitation, from its “greed”, Bedi said. “It was a pre-planned conspiracy of the ruling group to favour the present contractors whose work was already under the scanner and far from satisfactory. There could not be a poorer and more dirty administration than this one,” remarked the Opposition group.

Last year too sanitation contracts were extended to the existing contractors without inviting fresh bids. For the gross irregularities in awarding the sanitation contracts, the state government had even removed Rana from the post of MC president in April but he got back his office after getting a reprieve from the High Court.

OVER 82% HIKE

Proposing a hike of over 82 per cent, the MC president has increased the estimates of four sanitation contracts presently given at Rs 1.5 crore per annum to Rs 2.23 crore per annum while two additional garbage lifting contracts have been estimated to be allotted at Rs 50.7 lakh, taking the total amount of contracts to Rs 2.74 crore. However, the MC budget has a provision of spending Rs 1 crore on sanitation contracts.