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Monday Musings: BJP on test: How will it deal with corruption in PMC?
PM Narendra Modi’s promise to the nation that he will root out corruption from the country comes to mind.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which runs Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Maharashtra government is now under test on how it will deal with a corruption case that has surfaced in the PMC.
Will chief minister Devendra Fadnavis order an independent probe by a retired judge to examine the role of civic officials involved in the ₹14 crore tender rigging scam exposed by the Nagrik Chetna Manch (NCM) and the Competition Commission of India? Or will everyone in the BJP, RSS and the IAS cadre be satisfied with an in-house, eyewash of a probe, ordered by Pune municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao?
The people of Pune are closely watching this while not forgetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to the nation that he will neither indulge in, nor allow corruption under his watch.
As reported extensively by this paper, the case relates to cartelisation and bid-rigging that has been established in tenders of ₹14 crore pertaining to seven thermal composting plants at various locations in the city. The Competition Commission of India concluded that there was understanding ‘among the participants’ to ensure that the winning bid went to a Pune firm, Ecoman Enviro Solutions Pvt Limited.
Pune resident Bipin Vijay Salunke, a director in this firm, confessed to his role in this scam during hearings conducted by the Competition Commission of India.
Three critical observations made by the Competition Commission of India need to be looked at closely. First, that there is evidence of uploading of one of the tenders from the IP address of the PMC itself- showing the extent to which the civic body’s tendering process has been compromised.
Two, call data records of communication between some PMC officials with the bidder and other systemic failures on the part of PMC showed that these officials “may have facilitated bid-rigging in five tenders.” Three, that the PMC not only failed to exercise due diligence while scrutinising the bid documents, but that there were glaring acts of omission and commission on the part of civic officials “which intentionally or otherwise aided the bidders in cartelisation.”
The CCI named three officials who frequently spoke on telephone with the directors of the winning bidder, and asked that their role needs to be examined.
In an interview to this newspaper, Pune municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao has accepted that this bid rigging scam points to ‘systemic failure’ in the PMC which needs to be addressed. He has also promised a probe to look into the role of the civic officials.
However, as pointed out by the indefatigable citizen-activist SCN Jatar who moved the CCI to conduct this probe, what is required is not an in-house probe by the PMC but an independent probe by a retired judge.
As he told HT in an interview: “Owing to the allegations on the civic body itself, the authority to conduct the probe should not be given to the PMC. Instead, the state government should hand over the inquiry to an independent agency. A retired judge should be appointed under whom the entire process of inquiry should be conducted. Only then, can we expect a fair and unbiased probe on the bid-rigging scam.”
Is the BJP a “party with a difference” as it claims to be? The onus is on them. Let us wait and watch.
abhay.vaidya@htlive.com
