BMC cancels ₹150 crore tenders for thermoplastic paint road markings

BMC cancels ₹150 crore road marking contract over BJP chief's corruption concerns, citing arbitrary fund allocation and potential cartelisation.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cancelled a ₹150 crore contract for thermoplastic road markings after the Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, Ameet Satam, raised concerns of corruption.

BMC cancels ₹150 crore tenders for thermoplastic paint road markings

The civic body had planned to introduce thermoplastic paint for road markings across the city, since the material is known to be durable and high reflectivity at night. This may have improved the visibility of lane markings and zebra crossings at night and helped reduce accidents.

However, Satam questioned the basis of allocating ₹50 crore each to Mumbai’s three regions, the city, the eastern suburbs and the western suburbs, despite significant differences in road lengths. He pointed out that the western suburbs have nearly three times the road length of the other two regions, saying that the equal allocation was “arbitrary and lacked proper analysis”. The tender also did not specify the cost per kilometre for paint application, Satam pointed out saying it suggested that “cartelisation may be at play”.

Satam also questioned why the road-marking work was not included in the ongoing ₹10,000 crore cement concretisation road projects. The BMC is currently undertaking concretisation of 324 km of roads in Phase I and 377 km in Phase II as part of its drive to make the city’s 2,050-km road network pothole-free.

Satam alleged that certain contractors, in collusion with civic officials, often conceptualise projects and tailor tenders to suit their interests, a practice that should be “completely eliminated”. He stressed that projects should be conceptualised by elected representatives and the administration, not contractors. “There is a dire need to make our systems citizen-centric rather than contractor-centric,” he said.

Following his complaint to municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, mayor Ritu Tawde also took up the issue with Gagrani seeking action. The BMC then cancelled the tender on Friday, as reflected on its e-procurement portal. Officials from the road and traffic department were not available for comments.

Satam said his complaint was aimed at preventing unnecessary or substandard work and rigged tenders. He added that wanted to usher in corruption-free governance in the BMC.

However, this is not the first time that the BMC had been forced to cancel its contracts following allegations of corruption. Earlier this month, the BMC scrapped a ₹385 crore contract for installing bollards on footpaths after Satam alleged it was “tailor-made” to suit a particular contractor.

In another case, the civic body revised its procurement process for 27 essential items for municipal school students, including uniforms, shoes and stationery. Instead of getting these items from contractors, the BMC will now be procuring them from the central government’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, following Satam’s objections.