The removal of eight lakh cubic metres of rock from the bed of the Mithi river as part of cleaning and desilting operations has opened a can of worms with allegations that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) permitted contractors to claim over 150 per cent of their original contract value instead of inviting fresh tenders when they realised that the desilitation contracts would involve removal of rock as well. The largescale cost escalation (called variation in contract value) ranged from 50 per cent to over 100 per cent of the original contract cost. The project undertaken by the BMC in 2007 to deepen and widen the river and build retaining walls was to be completed by May 2010 but is still lagging behind schedule. The river that flows from Powai to Mahim was in spate during the 2005 deluge,after which the revival project was taken up to increase its capacity and eliminate flooding. The MMRDA is handling a six-km stretch while the BMC is in charge of the remaining 11.8 km of the river. The BMCs stretch was divided into five parts and work divided into five contracts. In 2009,contractors claimed that part of the river bed is rock surface,which would have to be removed. While the original cost of all five contracts under Phase II was Rs 248 crore,the fresh costs came to Rs 490 crore. Chief accountant (Finance) Ram Dhas had then sent a note to senior civic officials asking them to reconsider the variation and instead float fresh tenders for rock removal. Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta admitted that the suggestion was overruled and the existing contractors demand for a contract variation was accepted in order to save time. We were in a hurry to complete the project on time. Re-tendering would require additional time, Gupta said. Two months later,the then municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya put a cap on variation at 15 per cent. The project is still incomplete with 20 per cent widening work pending owing to presence of 1,500 plus shanties and 12 km of retaining wall still to be constructed. Following serious allegations of corruption by Legislative Council member Charan Singh Sapra in January last year,IIT-Bombay was appointed in November 2011 for a geo-technical survey,after much of the rock removal was already done. Sapra also alleged that the additional amount demanded by the contractors was inflated,and that the amount of rock actually removed was much less than claimed. The IIT report,submitted last month,found that 10.83 lakh cubic metres of soft and hard rock is still present along the 17-km long stretch of the river at depths varying from two-seven metres. Meanwhile,Sapra has written to BMC asking for immediate foreclosure of the contracts.
