NCP warns of stir, Shekhar Singh says work not given to ‘controversial’ firm yet

“We are looking into the objections against the contract raised by certain quarters. Though the joint venture concerned of two parties has emerged as the highest bidder, we have not given them the final work order,” said Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh, who is also the CEO of Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd.

“All due diligence has been done… We have taken cognisance of the complaints and objections raised… Only after we are convinced, we will issue the final work order,” Singh said.

The contract has come under attack from the NCP, which last week alleged that the “entire city’s mobile and internet control was being handed over to a joint venture, whose one party has a shady past.”

The joint venture has two private firms. Two directors of one of the firms were arrested in December last year by Ahmedabad police for allegedly running an illegal telephone exchange, the NCP has said.

The Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd has laid 600 kilometres of fibre network for internet services. The appointed contractor will act as the “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 last week, 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.

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 had said.

The NCP has now threatened to launch an agitation. “If the Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City Ltd goes ahead with the deal, we will launch an agitation. We cannot allow the nation’s security to be compromised in this way,” said Gavahane.

“We have come to know that the BJP is putting pressure on the Smart City Ltd administration to allot the work to the favoured contractor. One top BJP leader is behind this… he is putting pressure on the Shekhar Singh administration,” an NCP leader claimed.

Singh, however, denied that there was any pressure on him from any quarters. Similarly, BJP leader Namdev Dhake also denied that the party was putting pressure on the administration.