Eyebrows raised over Rs 17 cr for shoes of BMC school students

The civic standing committee has cleared a proposal to provide Rs 17 crore for ordering shoes for students of BMC schools.

The civic standing committee has cleared a proposal to provide Rs 17 crore for ordering shoes for students of BMC schools. The contract to provide shoes has been given to Shree Krishna Khandsari Sugar Mills,distributors of Action shoes.

The committee has also cleared Rs 121 crore contract for flavourd milk for BMC school students Raising doubts on shoes being delivered to students on time for this academic year,MNS corporator Sandeep Deshpande said,The contract to provide shoes has been delayed by over two months as the civic administration had been sitting on the proposal. As a result,children might not get shoes before the schools re-open.

Congress corporator Sheetal Mhatre said,If the shoes are available at much cheaper prices why should we purchase them from a company charging much higher rates?

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The BMC has claimed that while better companies could have been given the contract of providing shoes directly rather than go through a supplier,the contracts are given in a pre-bid meeting and only those companies that apply for these contracts directly are considered.

Most of the major companies that provide quality products do not come forward to obtain contracts for BMC schools. As a result we need to give the contracts to companies that apply and place the lowest bid, said Standing Committee chairman Rahul Shewale.

The civic administration has claimed that the shoes and other items will be provided before the academic year begins. The purchase order for the shoes will be given on Monday so that students get the shoes before schools reopen.

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