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Journalism of Courage
AFTER the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), now the Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd finds itself on a sticky wicket following allegations that it plans to hand over “entire control of operating mobile and internet services of the industrial city” to a firm whose promoters were allegedly arrested for running an illegal phone exchange in Ahmedabad.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd has laid 600 kilometres of fibre network for internet services. The appointed contractor company is supposed to act as “concessionaire” on behalf of the Smart City Ltd.
“It means if anyone has to use internet services, the firm will distribute it. The firm will collect revenue on behalf of the Smart City Ltd. The firm thereby gets control of the entire mobile and internet network of the city,” an official said.
The firm in question has emerged as the best bidder.
At a press conference in Pimpri on Wednesday, Ajit Gavahane, president of NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit, said three firms had bid for the Rs 300-crore contract to operate the 600-km underground internet cable duct. “Of the three bidders, the Smart City Ltd has finalised the names of two firms which are in a joint venture. Of the two firms, the promoters of one firm were arrested by Ahmedabad police for running an illegal phone exchange. The arrest took place in December 2021,” said Gavahane.
At the press conference, the NCP circulated news clippings of several newspapers on the “arrest of the two promoters”.
Both the promoters, also founder-directors of the company, had later resigned. “However, they are still the promoters of the firm…,” the NCP claimed.
Stating that the matter was serious and sensitive, Gavahane alleged that attempts were being made to handover the entire internet and mobile service of the industrial city to a firm with a shady past. “The two promoters were investigated by police. They illegally ran the telephone exchange. They had allegedly made calls to Pakistan and Dubai. This is a grave matter. We demand that the contract should not be allotted to them or else it will compromise not only the city’s security but also national security. The issue has wider and serious ramifications,” he said.
Demanding an investigation by Pimpri-Chinchwad police, Gavahane said, “Pimpri-Chinchwad police should step into the matter and probe as to how the firm bid for the contract and who are the people behind this…”
Reached for comments, Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh, who is also the CEO of Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd, said, “We have not yet allotted the contract to any firm. We are in the process of finalising it. Since concerns have been raised, we will have a re-look into it.”
Earlier this month, the PCMC found itself in the dock after it came light that the civic body was in the process of allotting jackwell work of Bhama Askhed dam to a contractor blacklisted by the Madhya Pradesh government.
