‘Irregularities’ in desilting drive: 30 civic officials, 32 contractors under BMC scanner

[related-post]

According to the report accessed by The Indian Express, contractors forged documents and provided fake bills to support claims. Some contractors have shown vehicles plying for 20 hours at a stretch, while in some cases one vehicle was shown at two different locations at the same time. The major lapse has been with the vehicle-tracking-system (VTS).

“There have been instances where the instrument has been attached to a motorbike instead of trucks supposed to transport and deposit the silt,” the official added. Though tender documents mandated check-posts at various spots, the contractors had not followed these norms. The report mentions vehicles that had made eight rounds at two separate sites the same day.

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had ordered an inquiry following floods on June 18-19. The committee, which was granted two extensions, submitted a report earlier this week. The panel investigated documents from nine of the 32 contractors. The documents showed 226 trucks made 26,838 rounds to transport 2.38 lakh cubic metres of silt.

By the end of the day, party leaders were playing the blame game. Dhananjay Pisal of the NCP said BMC has not completed even 10 per cent of desilting work. BJP group leader Manoj Kotak said, “BMC should initiate criminal proceedings against the contractors and civic officials involved in the row.” Sena leader Yashodhar Phanse and standing committee chairman, however, pointed out the report has not correlated the June flooding to lack of desilting.

tanushree.venkatraman
@expressindia.com