Audit stops Chandigarh civic body from splurging ₹30L a month on cleaning Plaza

Contract was awarded for 3 months without floating tender to Lions Services Limited after evacuation of street vendors in December

The local audit department has finally put an end to splurging of ₹30 lakh every month on cleaning the Sector 17 Plaza.

The Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) had awarded the work to Delhi-based Lions Services Limited without floating a tender, after evacuation of street vendors from the Plaza.

Questions have already been raised on the functioning of this firm, which has been carrying out mechanised sweeping in southern sectors at a cost of ₹5 crore per month. The MC’s sanitation department has also imposed ₹2 crore fine on the firm for dereliction in duty.

However, ignoring it, the MC House in December engaged the firm for mechanised sweeping in the Plaza at a cost of ₹30 lakh per month even as the civic body has over 100 sweepers for the area.

The approval was given for three months, till March, and the MC was planning to extend it further, despite acute fund crunch.

However, the latest audit note clearly conveyed to the MC that it must end the contract with Lions Services Limited by February 29 and that it can’t be extended.

In case the MC wants mechanised sweeping in the Plaza on permanent basis, it should explore other ways, such as floating a tender and selecting the lowest bidder.

Will depute own staff: MC chief

MC commissioner KK Yadav said the MC will deploy its own staff to clean the Plaza. “Besides, we have already procured two mechanical sweeping machines for northern sectors, which will also be put to use,” he said.

However the opposition is cornering the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has a majority in the House, over the issue.

Leader of opposition Devinder Babla said that the Congress had opposed the move when House allowed to allot a temporary contract to the Delhi firm.

“On the one hand, BJP-ruled MC claimed that it has no funds even for maintenance works, and on the other, it is splurging money in the name of cleanliness,” he said.

Babla said that even when the MC allotted the five-year contract for cleaning the southern sectors to the firm, it was claimed that sanitation workers hired on contact will be relieved of their duties. “But not even a single employee has been shown the door so far,” he said, adding that the contract was one of the main reasons for financial crisis in the MC.

The MC had outsourced cleanliness of southern sectors to the firm for five years in 2017. Councillor Davesh Moudgil had demanded a probe into the allotment of the contract. However, after he became the mayor in 2018, he mostly kept silent on the issue.

Meanwhile, Right to Information activist RK Garg said: “I am sure none from the MC went to check the quality of cleanliness work being carried out by the firm in the Plaza. This contract was nothing but sheer wastage of money.”