BMC awards contracts to those who were fined for unsatisfactory works earlier
17 Aug, 2013The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that only a tiny percentage of total payment was imposed as fine by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on the contractors for unsatisfactory or delayed works.
The reply to the application shows that six contractors - RPS Infraproject, Prakash Engineering, Priti Constructions, RK Madhani, Relcon and KR Constructions - were awarded road improvement works in the city but they had to pay only a very small fraction of their contract money as penalty for poor performance during the period 2007-12. For example, as per the reply RPS Infraproject had to pay only Rs. 12.42 lakh as fine against a total payment of Rs. 46.44 crore. Similarly, Relcon was fined Rs. 2.63 lakh against payment of Rs. 22 The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act. crore.
However, despite earlier poor performance and delay in jobs, the firms have not been black listed. Instead, the contractors were repeatedly given fresh contracts. The contractors have recently been awarded contracts for asphalting and concretizing works worth Rs. 900 crore. The Additional municipal commissioner said that as the blacklisting clause was not mentioned in the tender conditions, therefore such step has not been taken.