Premium
This is an archive article published on June 26, 2021

PCMC imposes over Rs 1 crore fine on L&T and Tech Mahindra for delaying smart city projects

The matter came to light during the meeting of the board of directors of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd. The meeting was held at Auto Cluster in Chinchwad.

PCMC, Pimpri Chinchwad vaccination, Pune vaccination, Covid-19 vaccination, Vaccination in slum, Pune covid update, Pune covid-19 news, pune news, pune latest news, pune today news, pune local news, new pune news, latest pune newsMunicipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil said, "We are going ahead with the policy....It was approved in the general body meeting." (File photo)

SENDING out a strong message to contracting firms who are not able to adhere to set deadlines, the board of directors of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd has imposed a fine on L & T and Tech Mahindra for doing the alloted work at “snail’s pace.”

The matter came to light during the meeting of the board of directors of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd. The meeting was held at Auto Cluster in Chinchwad. Chairman Nitin Kareer, who is the State Principal Secretary, Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil and other directors were present at the meeting.

Revealing the decisions taken at the meeting, Joint CEO Neelkanth Poman told this paper on Saturday that the board of directors rejected the requests made by the two firms to waive of their fine amount. “However, the board rejected their demand. The board has contended that whatever relief had to be given as per the government resolution, it had been given to them. Besides, they have given an extension to complete their works.”

Story continues below this ad

Poman said there are a total of five contractors who are implementing 38 projects of the Smart City. “Of these, L & T is implementing six projects while Tech Machindra is implementing 16 projects. Both the firms have not been able to complete their projects in the alloted deadline. Their work had proceeded at snail’s pace. Therefore, L & T was fined Rs 36 lakh while Tech Manhindra was fine Rs 1.36 crore,” he said. The amount has been deducted from the bills.

Poman said both companies put forward a request to the board of directors to waive of their fine amount as the delay was due to COVID pandemic and the lockdown. “The two firms had requested that they faced manpower and material shortage due to the ongoing pandemic and the lockdown. They said migrant labourers had gone home after the lockdown and material from foreign countries was also not available due to lockdown in various countries. However, the board’s view was that they have given necessary relief under the government resolution and no more relief can be given to the two firms. The board has however given a six month extension to the two firms to complete their works, he said.

At the meeting, Poman said the directors give extension to the contractor implementing the e-classroom project in 105 civic schools. The extension has been given for three months. “The approved Rs 5.64 crore for installing IT equipment in the civic schools,” he said. the board also decided to set up separate committee for Fibre Cable Networking which will be a source of revenue for the civic body.

The board also appointed KPMGL, a private agency, to push the smart city projects. In last three years, three projects have been completed and it is expected that most projects will be completed in next three months. The agency has been given a one month extension. “Depending on the implementing of the project, further extension will decided,” said the PCMC chief. For the “India Cycles for Challenge” project, Ashish Jain has been appointed.

Story continues below this ad

The board said out of the Rs 637 crore received from the central government, Rs 521 crore have been spent on the projects. “In next three months, several projects would be completed,” Patil said.

Mayor Usha Dhore, PCMC House leader Namdeo Dhake, Opposition leader Raju Misal, MNS group leader Sachin Chikhale, corporator Pramod Kute, PMPML C & M Rajendra Jagtap, Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash, who are all directors of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd, were present at the meeting.

– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement

You May Like

Advertisement