E-Paper
PMC LED scam: CM assures speedy inquiry
Civic body initiated the LED smart street lighting project in the city for the purpose of saving power in February 2017.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the assembly that the state government has started an inquiry into the light-emitting diode (LED) smart street lighting project implemented by the Pune municipal corporation (PMC) and the Pune divisional commissioner will complete the inquiry soon.
In March 2018, citizen-activist Maj Gen (retd) Sudhir Jatar, representing Nagrik Chetna Manch (NCM), had filed a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about the contract. He alleged that the entire tender process for street LED lighting was illegal and that of the 51% saving in electrical consumption as proposed by the contractor and accepted by the PMC, the contractor’s share was 98.5%, while PMC’s share was only 1.5%.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) MLA Vijay Kale raised the question of the LED scam in the ongoing winter assembly session and while replying to Kale’s question, the chief minister said that the state government received the complaint and an inquiry had been initiated in the matter.
The state government appointed an auditor who had found various objections in the tendering process of the LED project. All these objections raised by the auditor has been transferred to the divisional commissioner. The chief minister said that the College of engineering, Pune, is also conducting a third party audit of the LEDs purchased and its quality. It is expected that the divisional commissioners’ office will complete the inquiry soon and submit the report to the urban development department of the state government.
The PMC executed the LED smart street lighting project in the city for the purpose of saving power. The project was initiated in February 2017.
It was on November 28, 2016, that the PMC awarded tender no. 46-2016-17 to TATA Urban Infrastructure for the installation of 83,000 LED street lights.
