Govt orders  probe into ‘below estimate price’ tenders for building repairs

Responding to the issue, Minister Shambhuraj Desai said he had been informed by officials about such practices in South Mumbai. “Additional chief secretary Aseem Gupta will conduct an inquiry into it and such contract awarded to the contractors will be scrapped immediately,” he said.

Patel also urged the state government to push for lifting the stay on the amendment to Section 79A of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act. The amendment empowers MHADA to acquire old and dilapidated cessed buildings declared as C-1 category –  unsafe and unfit for habitation. The Bombay High Court stayed the amendment in July.

Patel said the vulnerability of tenants in such buildings required urgent action. “If not acquired, many of these buildings have the risk of collapse in the forthcoming monsoon, endangering the lives of tenants,” he said.

Desai said MHADA had already moved the Supreme Court in August, with the next hearing scheduled for January 15. “We have requested Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in the SC representing the state government. We will apprise the apex court about the dire need of imposition of Section 79A to save human lives,” he said.