Another road scam in Mumbai? Probe demanded on contractors who sell debris

Even as the dust refuses to settle down on the road scam, civic activists and corporators have told mid-day that the indicted contractors have indulged in another racket running into crores - that of disposing of the debris generated during road works. They claim it runs into several crores and allege that the contractors have made more money off the debris than by scamming the civic body.

The debris is being dumped into mangroves

While contractors swindled public money in the road scam via the BMC, the victim in the debris scam is the state revenue department.

As per rules, the contractors involved in road works need to pay the revenue department for extracting dirt, which is technically considered a ‘mineral' - and hence state property. In fact, there is a clause in the contract between the civic body and the contractors that stipulates a payment of ‘royalty for extracting minerals' while carrying out roadwork.

Digging deeper
It is now alleged that contractors not only did not pay the state government, they also made money off the civic body by claiming expenses to transport the debris. Suspecting that contractors were digging deeper than what is required to lay roads, the BMC had in November 2015 tweaked rules to say that roads can be dug up to only 20 cm, instead of the earlier 87 cm.

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"The BMC does not deal with the royalty part," said Ajoy Mehta, BMC commissioner. "It is the district collector that handles the royalty issue. But yes, what the contractors actually did with the excavated debris and the quantum of revenue allegedly evaded by them need to be investigated. We will certainly look into the issue and accordingly inform the departments concerned and investigating agency."

So, what happens to all that dirt dug up from the roads? Activists allege that contractors sell this to developers, who then use it as landfill. Unscrupulous among them use to dump the debris to destroy mangroves across the city's coastline.

mid-day is in possession of a letter issued in September 2015, where a revenue department (Borivli tehsil) official has observed that one of the road contractors named in the road scam has dumped excavated material from a road in Malad into nearby mangroves.

Right To Information activist Ravindra Chiplunkar has also complained about the irregularities to the Suburban Collector, BMC and the chief minister's office last month about the scam.

"In the past five to seven years, the amount fleeced by the road contractors under the pretext of transporting debris is much more than what they swindled in the road scam."

Audit needed
Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Shaikh said the BMC should get its auditor to look into the bogus bills raised by the contractors.

"Besides asking the police to investigate, the BMC should ask the municipal chief auditor to conduct an inquiry into the so-called cost of transportation of excavated road material."

Book contractors
Manoj Kotak, BJP group leader in the BMC, said that the contractors should also be booked for evading taxes. "Besides fleecing civic body and tax payers, the contractors have fudged records to evade royalty payments, which need to be is deposited with the collector state revenue department. "

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Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's group leader in the BMC, Sandeep Deshpande, went one step ahead and demanded a white paper on the subject.

"Corruption in road contracts is going on for years," said Deshpande.

"The amount fleeced by the contractors is bigger than what is talked about. The BMC should table a white paper on expenditure incurred in last 10 years for maintaining and construction of new roads. This will help assess the exact quantum of loss to the treasury and accurate amount fleeced by them."