Civic inquiry panel raises questions on contract for closure of Deonar dumpyard

Acting on directives from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mehta had ordered a one-man committee under Deputy Municipal Commissioner Kiran Acharekar to probe the Deonar contract after the fire, which lasted for a week and spread poisonous smoke across Mumbai. The fire was even captured on a NASA satellite image.

The committee has questioned the civic body’s decision to allot the work to the sole contractor who bid for the project. As per norms, when tenders evoke only one response, the tender has to be recalled to see if there more responses can be had, so that the process can be competitive.

But in this case, the committee has pointed out that, “A note was put before the civic Standing Committee in January 2009 seeking awarding the work to the sole bidder M/s Tatva Global.”

“While the Standing Committee had then sought comparison of the bid with the rates received for the Kanjurmarg dumping facility (where a waste treatment plant is proposed), the civic administration decided to directly negotiate with Tatva Global.The negotiations took place in the presence of the then civic chief, and the BMC’s consultant Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. (ILand FS).”

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The committee has also pointed out that during the negotiations, the consulting firm even agreed to buy 50 per cent of the compost manure, allowing the contractor to improve the overall offer. “This is absolutely not as per the norms. Negotiating with the sole bidder is also not right. Though a proposal was submitted again… it did not mention the figures comparing it with the Kanjurmarg dumping ground,” the inquiry panel had said.

The panel has also found that the consulting firm’s contract period had expired in 2008.

The panel referred to an expert report earlier submitted to the state government, which had pointed out that the Deonar dump closure bid was way higher than the Kanjurmarg dumping site work.

It has questioned the then civic administrators for taking no action on the contractors despite delays in the project’s implementation. While the contractor had sought leasing of the land to raise funds for the work, the inquiry panel has poked holes in this claim too.

“The concession agreement clearly mentions that the site cannot be mortgaged for raising funds for the project. It appears he just did 40 per cent work,” the panel has found.

It has also claimed that “no attention was paid to incomplete works, even as payments were disbursed.”

So even after six years of awarding the work, the scientific closure exercise could not be completed.

The fire which broke out in January affected the environment and dented the civic body’s image, the report further added.

The panel has pulled up the Chief Accountant (Finance) and Solid Waste Management officials for not pointing out various irregularities in the project’s implementation to their seniors. The payments were disbursed without adhering to the agreed schedule, it has indicated.

There was no clarity over the appointment of contractor and the project’s implementation, it has concluded.

It has further observed that an attempt to cancel the contract due to the shortcoming was blocked. It has said that there weren’t enough safeguards in the original contract clauses. The report has also pulled up the consulting firm over the framing of the contract conditions.