Mumbai: Maintenance cost of civic schools doubles in five years

As per its latest proposal, civic body will pay Rs 391.09 crore with taxes for three years for the job to three contractors

The cost of housekeeping in civic schools has doubled in the past 5 years. The BMC annually paid Rs 70 crore for maintenance of school buildings, now the expenditure is around Rs 130 crore. The BMC administration has passed a proposal to appoint contractors for three years at the cost of Rs 391.09. The BMC had spent Rs 209.78 crore in 2016-19 for it. 

The work includes daily housekeeping, providing security service, weekly cleaning of the school, etc. “The minimum wages and the number of school buildings have risen. So the cost has increased,” said Ramakant Biradar, deputy municipal commissioner.

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“The minimum wages in 2016 were from around Rs 7,693.50 to Rs 7,048.80. This is now from Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000. The number of schools has risen from 388 to 450. These are the main causes for increasing the cost of tender,” said an official.  The civic administration has invited tenders for seven  zones. It will award a contract worth Rs 382.19 crore with the addition of contingency funds and with taxes it is Rs 391.09 crore.

Civic activist Anil Galgali said, “We can understand that inflation has increased. But the cost has nearly doubled. The number of the school buildings have not doubled. After the period of BMC terms ended, common people did not get information about which proposals were cleared by the administration. The BMC should publish information regarding every proposal as this is taxpayers’ money.”

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