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Possession of two parking lots not taken, Ludhiana MC scraps contracts
Mayor Balkar Sandhu has now directed MC officials to float fresh tenders for all six lots in the city, as the contract period of other four lots will also end on September 30.
Three months after a contractor failed to take possession of the parking lots at Feroze Gandhi market and Sarabha Nagar Block-I, the municipal corporation (MC) on Wednesday cancelled the contracts and forfeited the earnest money.
Following an e-auction, MC’s finance and contracts committee (F&CC) on June 9 had approved the resolution to allot the two parking lots to the same contractor for Rs 1.1 crore and Rs 4.5 lakh, respectively.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu has now directed MC officials to float fresh tenders for all six lots in the city, as the contract period of other four lots will also end on September 30. Though the contracts were to end in August, a one-month extension was given to contractors to compensate for the losses during the lockdown.
The civic body had earlier recommended cancellation of the contracts to the F&CC. But, with no meeting of the panel scheduled in the near future, the mayor, who is head of the committee, cancelled the allotments.
An MC official, requesting anonymity, said as per norms, a contractor, who failed to take possession of a lot, had to be blacklisted. But, MC had not yet taken any decision in this regard.
Members of the Feroze Gandhi Market Association have been demanding that the corporation run the lots itself rather than handing them over to a contractor to avoid fleecing of visitors. They had also escalated haphazard parking of vehicles on roads by the staff of the contractor.
MC secretary Neeraj Jain said, “The mayor has cancelled the contracts of two parking lots. We are working on preparing fresh tenders for the e-auction of all six parking lots. Terms and conditions are also being drafted.”
Fresh tenders will be floated for the parking lots at Feroze Gandhi market, Bhadaur House, BRS Nagar, Model Town Extension, Multi-storey parking near MC’s Zone A office and Sarabha Nagar market (Block-I).
