Mumbai civic body blacklists 11 road contractors

The civic body on Thursday issued show-cause notices to 11 of the 16 contractors named in the second report of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) internal inquiry into the 2015 roads scam. They won’t be allowed to take up any new civic contract, an official said.

The civic body on Thursday issued show-cause notices to 11 of the 16 contractors named in the second report of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) internal inquiry into the 2015 roads scam. They won’t be allowed to take up any new civic contract, an official said.

The civic body on Thursday issued show-cause notices to 11 of the 16 contractors named in the second report of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) internal inquiry into the 2015 roads scam.(HT)

According to the official, of these 16 contractors working on the 200 roads that were under scanner in the second phase of inquiry, 11 have been accused of sub-standard work. The second report, submitted last week, pointed out alleged irregularities, such as fewer materials used in the foundation layer of the roads.

Meanwhile, civic chief Ajoy Mehta has also ordered for a first-information report (FIR) to be filed against the contractors. According to an official, along with six contractors who had been indicted in the preliminary report last year, another five have been issued notices.

A senior civic official said, “We plan to add the names of these five contractors to the FIR registered last year, instead of lodging a new one.”

Last year, a preliminary report revealed that work on 34 roads was substandard, after which six contractors, two third-party contractors were blacklisted and were barred from bidding for any civic contracts and were facing criminal cases.

The remaining five contractors have been let off without any action issued against them as three contractors had completed 100% of the work according to the tenders and irregularities were within the tolerance limit in the case of two other contractors, said officials.

The show-cause notice states that if there is no reply from the contractors within 15 days, it will be presumed that there is nothing to say in the matter and further action as deemed fit including blacklisting or deregistration will be taken against them. The show-cause notice also states that contractors have submitted incomplete/inaccurate/fabricated documents in support of their claim to have carried out the work allotted to them with intention of defrauding BMC and causing loss of public money.

In written directives to the road department officials, the civic chief has stated, “This is extremely serious and the discrepancies have led to the appalling state of Mumbai roads. It is imperative that again a conclusive and exemplary action is taken to set things right and ensure that public money is spent with care and caution.”

He has further instructed, “Issue show-cause notices to all contractors whose irregularities are beyond the tolerance limits mentioned in the tender document. Further in view of the large scale and serious irregularities, which have adversely impacted the quality of roads in the city, an FIR must be lodged against all contractors.”

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