Now, all material for road works to be tested at accredited labs

While contractors will now have to think twice before they try to fudge their bills, the civic body has come with another plan to ensure that contractors don't try and cut corners while making the city's roads.

While contractors will now have to think twice before they try to fudge their bills, the civic body has come with another plan to ensure that contractors don't try and cut corners while making the city's roads. All raw material being used to make roads will henceforth be tested at accredited labs, instead of being tested at the civic lab, in Worli.

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This decision was made, sources said, after SGS consultants, a private third-party auditor, expressed fears that errant contractors were getting away with using sub-standard materials, and were colluding with officials to get positive reports about their materials.

HT had on Friday reported how SGS had pointed out that most contractors had failed to set up their own laboratories at site, where the raw materials could be tested in the presence of the auditors. Contractors, instead, chose to send their materials to the civic lab in Worli. With these new directions, this is all set to change.

Contractors will be instructed to get all their samples of raw materials tested at the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited labs, instead of being tested at the Worli lab.

Confirming this, additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta said, "SGS felt that there would be more objectivity if the tests were conducted at a neutral laboratory. Hence, we have agreed to their demand and henceforth, materials will be tested at accredited labs."

Another senior civic official from the roads department said, "Many times, we found that materials were approved through tests in the BMC lab, even though they looked highly suspect. Also, whenever SGS tried to get the material tested at an IIT lab, where it would be rejected, contractors would cry foul and refuse to accept the result."