Top cop to probe BMC projects

Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday formed a special team to be led by Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar to probe irregularities to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) between November 28, 2019 and October 31, 2022, which were found by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The announcement came on the day when both Shiv Sena factions celebrated the party's foundation day.

The CAG was commissioned to audit the period between November 28, 2019, and October 31, 2022. Uddhav Thackeray was chief minister and his party, the then-unified Shiv Sena, was in power in the BMC for most of this period. Thackeray was replaced after Shinde came to power on June 30 last year. The period between July and October 2022, which the investigators are considering, falls in the Shinde Sena-BJP regime. The new government had ordered a CAG probe after allegations of corruption, especially during the pandemic, were raised. Works costing Rs 12,023 crore that were carried out by nine departments were specified for the audit.

The BMC has been governed by an administrator, Iqbal Singh Chahal, since the term of house expired early last year. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

In a letter, the BJP legislator Amit Satam had demanded an SIT probe to book the culprits. The police commissioner will be assisted by the joint commissioner of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW )and other senior officers.

Most of the period the CAG has highlighted was ruled by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of which the united Sena was an ally.

Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis had presented a special audit report by the CAG in the budget session in March this year. The report highlighted a lack of transparency, systemic problems, poor planning, and careless use of funds by the civic body.

The ruling party members had demanded action by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) or by a committee of legislators.

"This is just a trailer. It's only about the work costing Rs 12,000 crore," Fadnavis had said while making a statement on the CAG report.

However, the BMC, which has been governed by an administrator since the term of house expired early last year, refused to furnish the expenditure records for the mitigation of COVID-19 (Rs 3,538 crore) despite repeated requests, said the CAG, adding that the non-submission of records had deprived the civic body of crucial audit inputs, which would have been beneficial for any course correction and systemic improvements.

The audit states that the BMC awarded 20 works across two departments, valued at Rs 214.48 crore, without inviting tenders and in violation of its own vigilance rules and that in 64 works costing Rs 4,755.94 crore, the contract agreements were not executed between the contractors. The absence of agreements denied the BMC legal means against the defaulting contractors. For 13 works costing Rs 3,355.57 crore across three departments, third-party auditors were allegedly not appointed.

The report also claims that the BMC paid a huge amount for a piece of land in Dahisar, which was reserved for a recreation ground, a playground and a maternity home, but was encroached upon. The BMC paid 716 per cent more than the rate in 2011 for acquiring the land and in addition, it will spend another R77 crore
for rehabilitation.

Further, it pointed out irregularities in the information technology department where the previous contractor was given work worth Rs 160 crore without tendering. There has been no service against the maintenance contract of Rs 37 crore, it said. The SAP system handles the BMC's tendering process and a forensic report said that there was a scope for manipulation, but no action was taken.

According to the CAG, work on a bridge at Mahalaxmi railway station was only 10 per cent complete in March 2022, which was the deadline for finishing the project. The contractor was favoured and given extra work of Rs 27 crore in violation of tendering conditions, it said.

The cost of the 4.3-km twin tunnel in Sanjay Gandhi National Park rose to R6,322 crore from the earlier estimate of Rs 4,500 crore in August 2022, because the forest department's permission was not sought. In road and traffic management works, 56 items were audited by the CAG. Of these, 52 were chosen for concreting without surveying; new jobs worth Rs 54 crore were clubbed with the old work without tendering and micro silica was not used as construction material, but Rs 2.40 crore was billed for it.

Other points in the report mention a students' hostel at KEM Hospital which was built without the district collector's approval. The BMC was fined Rs 2.70 crore for the irregularity. A single contractor was allotted the cleaning of the Mithi river, despite a decision that four different contractors would be given the job over 24 months. The Rs 464 crore work on the influent pumping plant at Malad was given to a disqualified contractor, leading the CAG to note that mala fide intentions could not be ruled out.

Besides, in the global tendering for the solid waste management department's ‘waste to energy project', the condition for the minimum daily processing capacity was reduced to 600 tonnes from 3,000 tonnes while allocating the work to the Chennai MSW. The CAG said the poor monitoring by the civic body and abnormal delays in obtaining the mandatory clearances are likely to have a significant impact on the project delivery schedule.

Rs 12,000 cr
Alleged worth of irregularities

June 30
Day in 2022 Eknath Shinde came to power