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Chandigarh | Southern sectors’ sweeping contract awarded to incumbent firm
Chandigarh MC commissioner Anindita Mitra said that after the revised conditions of the tender, MC will save ₹1.14 crore a month and ₹41.26 crore for three years.
The Chandigarh municipal corporation has awarded contract for GIS (global information system)-based mechanised and manual sweeping of southern sector roads to Lions Service Ltd.
In addition to Lions Service Ltd, two other firms, BVG International and Antony Waste Ltd, had submitted their bids.
The current contract is also with Lion Service Limited; it expires on March 31. MC pays ₹4.70 crore to the firm every month.
On the new contract and tendering process, MC commissioner Anindita Mitra said that after the revised conditions of the tender, MC will save ₹1.14 crore a month and ₹41.26 crore for three years.
“We are working towards bringing healthy competition and complete transparency and efficiency in all our tenders with well-defined service-level agreements and methods of monitoring. Every rupee saved is a rupee earned for development works of the city,” said Mitra.
The issue of sweeping of southern sectors had generated much controversy and heat for the BJP-ruled MC during its previous term. Questions have been raised over the performance of the company.
The delay in floating of contract had led to the MC General House requesting the Punjab governor and UT administrator to hold an inquiry into the matter. This was one of the reasons why a former medical officer of health (MOH), a Punjab cadre officer, was repatriated back to Punjab.
MC floated the tenders in January inviting firms to take over the work. The interested parties were asked to download the request for proposal (RFP) document from e-tendering portal and submit bids by February 21, which was extended till March 8.
The working of the company has been previously mired in controversy. In October last year, the municipal corporation General House ordered a “high-level” inquiry into the “deliberate delay” in floating a fresh tender for southern sectors’ sanitation contract.
On account of delay, the House had extended the contract of Lions Services Limited till March 31, which accrued a payment of ₹15 crore in four months. Earlier on May 31, the House had decided against renewing the firm’s tender, so as to float a fresh tender and minimise the cost burden on MC.
The present manual-sweeping contracts of Sectors 31-63 ended on November 30, 2021, while the mechanical-sweeping contract expired on February 14, 2022. It will now continue till March 31 next year. It was granted to Lions in 2016.
Passing a resolution requesting the Punjab governor and UT administrator to get an inquiry conducted over the delay, many councillors had alleged there were malafide intentions behind the delay. The House also demanded recovery of the loss to the MC from the officials, if found guilty.
One of the reasons for the early repatriation of the former medical officer of health was attributed to the delay in the floating of tender.
