Body bag ‘scam’: BMC cancels deal, to float new tender

Following allegations of a ‘scam’ in procurement of body bags, which are used to wrap dead bodies, saying that the bags were procured at more than five times the

Following allegations of a ‘scam’ in procurement of body bags, which are used to wrap dead bodies, saying that the bags were procured at more than five times the actual cost, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cancelled the contract of the procurement and will refloat the tender for the same. The civic body also said that the price was less than what was stated on Central health ministry’s website.

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The controversy over body bags erupted after some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders as well as social activist Anjali Damania tweeted documents of the procurement by BMC.

On Thursday, Damania tweeted a document saying BMC has given a contract of procuring body bags to Aurangabad-based Vedant Innotech Private limited for ₹6,719 per bag wherein the civic body was to procure nearly 3,000 body bags. She alleged the actual cost of body bags is between ₹250 and ₹1,200 and added that the selected firm does not have any experience in manufacturing body bags . She further said that the firm is into casting metals.

Damania said, “There is a huge scam in every single procurement by BMC. This particular procurement of body bags makes me sick. How can they even think of making money from dead bodies? Also, if the BJP knew about it and had all the documents, why didn’t they hold a press conference.”

Satish Kalyankar, managing director of the firm, said, “We are giving specialised body bags that have unique qualities and is anti-viral. We are giving protective equipments to the ones handling these bodies along with the bag. Also, amid shortage of labour and expensive raw material, we still have quoted much below our actual price.”

Commenting on the allegations, additional municipal commissioner P Velrasu said, “Of all the bidders, the one selected was purely on the basis of the quality as we needed leak proof bags which others failed to furnish. The bags were thoroughly checked by a team of nine medical experts and then given a go ahead. This was the third time we had floated the tenders since we were looking for the right quality of bags.” Velrasu added that fresh tenders for the bags would be floated soon.

However, a war for credit broke out after BJP leaders claimed they had raised this issue of procurement before Damania did. BJP’s Mumbai unit secretary Vivekanand Gupta said, “BMC is making money out of dead bodies. The guilty should face strict action in this case. I was the first one to raise this complaint with documents. I have also shared the Twitter timelines of my tweets.”

BMC, in a press statement, said tenders were floated thrice and they only got a response on the third one on May 2. They have already purchased 2,200 bags and will now float fresh tenders for more bags.

“It should be noted that the price stated for body bags on the website of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is ₹7,800, whereas BMC has procured it at ₹6,700. The tender has now been cancelled on technical grounds,” the statement said.

CORRECTION

In an earlier version of this report, we had inadvertently named Vedant Infotech Private Ltd, instead of Vedant Innotech Private Ltd. We regret the error.