Solid waste piles up in Vasai-Virar as civic body, contractors face off in court

Residents in Vasai-Virar face service disruptions as eight contractors challenge the municipal corporation's second tender for waste management in court.

MUMBAI: Residents in the Vasai -Virar region are finding themselves at the receiving end of a conflict between the municipal corporation and eight civic contractors in solid waste management services. Eight contractors, who participated in the tendering process for these services, had made it to the shortlist but they have now approached the Bombay High Court, seeking a stay on a second tender floated after the corporation cancelled the first one. The corporation says it cancelled the tender on “technical grounds”.

Solid waste piles up in Vasai-Virar as civic body, contractors face off in court

The Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) floated the first tender in September 2024, to appoint contractors to undertake solid waste management services. This included daily cleaning, cleaning of sewage chambers, door-to-door garbage collection, housing society garbage collection, and the disposal of the solid waste thus collected at dumping yards. The tender, whose value was ₹207 crore, covered a period of three years, from 2025-26 to 2027-28.

VVMC officials said several contractors had submitted applications and, on October 11, 2024, after technical scrutiny, eight contractors were declared eligible. However, in May 2025, the VVMC floated a second tender, after cancelling the first one, and raised its value to ₹254 crore.

The eight contractors found eligible under the first tender have approached the court, challenging the decision to invite a second tender. They said they had already paid the sum required to start work and had approached VVMC Commissioner Anilkumar Pawar but he was unmoved.

“We were prepared to start work and requested an annual increase of 10%. However, the commissioner cancelled the tender, citing technical reasons, and increased the sum to ₹254 crore,” said one of the contractors.

Asked why the sum had suddenly been raised, Sanjay Herwade, additional municipal commissioner, VVMC, said this was due to an increase in the population in the region, from 12 lakh in 2007. “All the eight contractors have to do is reapply,” said Herwade.

The court has conducted two hearings in the case, on June 9 and 18, but it has neither passed an order nor has it stayed the tendering process.

The case has, however, taken a turn with Dhananjay Gawade, founder of an NGO, Swaraj Abhyan, intervening in the case. During the June 18 hearing, Gawade alleged in court that, in 2019, a First Information Report (FIR) had been registered against the eight contractors for misappropriation of ₹122 crore, due to which they were blacklisted.

“VVMC should never have selected these contractors during the first tendering process,” he said. The court has sought a written application from the NGO before the next hearing.

The contractors, for their part, claim they have met the requirements of the tending process as the companies they currently represent have not been blacklisted by the VVMC.

Meanwhile, residents say the tug-of-war between contractors and the VVMC has begun to take a toll on civic services. “Due to the shoddy work of contractors, roads have started to get waterlogged in several areas as the storm water drains have not been cleaned,” said 45-year-old Raj Dosani, a resident of Vasai. “If this continues, garbage collection will stop and that will only make things worse,” he said.