Mumbai: Aaditya wants BMC chief to be probed for corruption

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray during a meeting with Governor Ramesh Bais; (inset) BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal

Former cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday said he handed over to Governor Ramesh Bais a list of scams under BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and demanded a probe by Lokayukta. "We have highlighted the corruption in road repair works and many others. Tenders in all these works were given to select few contractors," he told reporters.

There have been multiple scams under Iqbal Singh Chahal, the administrator of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), alleged Thackeray after meeting the governor on Wednesday. The former environment minister targeted Chahal over the tenders issued this year, alleging inflation of cost for the works to favour certain contractors.

Aaditya Thackeray along with Sena (UBT) leaders on Wednesday

"There is a scam of Rs 6,000-crore in road repair works. Then there is a scam in the work issued for street furniture, for which the BMC is spending R100 crore above the actual cost, which is about R160 crore. Overall, the BMC is spending Rs 263 crore on street furniture work," Thackeray alleged.

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‘Gravel shortage'

"Also, there is a scam in gravel supply. The gravel used for construction is also being forced to be bought from a certain company. BMC chief Chahal is responsible for all these scams. The tenders have been issued to a few favourite contractors at high costs.

"The state government is working in a way that will benefit the contractors. We have shared all the relevant information with the governor and demanded an inquiry into the scams," Thackeray said.

BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal. Pic/Shadab Khan

He further alleged that the gravel scam "brought some works that had already started to a grinding halt. I have extensively spoken and written about these. Because of the gravel shortage, road works won't come to a safe closure before this monsoon.

"Public representatives from all parties complained about this, following which the BMC fined some of these contractors. But, the fines are petty and may have been paid from the advance fund given by the BMC itself," he alleged.

The road scam

Further explaining the road scam, Thackeray said that tenders of approximately R5,000 crore were floated in August 2022. In the absence of response, the BMC "revised and increased its estimate costs (Schedule of Rates) by up to 20 per cent (from the last baseline) to attract contractors of ‘national experience'.

"The increase of an approximate 20 per cent in the Schedule of Rates (claiming increased prices of steel, cement, etc.) is actually a hike of 40 per cent for contractors," he alleged.

"For decades, contractors had been bidding about 20 per cent below the estimated cost of the road tenders - even this was higher than that in other cities in India. However, this time, the contractors bid an average of 8 per cent above the actual cost, which further hiked the tender cost by 48 per cent.

Alleged cartelisation

"Moreover, there is cartelisation in the appointment of contractors. The BMC gives a GST of 18 per cent separately, which was not the case before in road works. Mobilisation advance is given to green-field works in the country, never for gullies of cities like Mumbai. Almost Rs 650 crores, with interest, for works that will not start until the end of 2024, is purely a fraud and a way of draining Mumbai's BMC of its finances," he stated.

"If a concrete road in Mumbai was being made at Rs 10 crore per km [until 2021], now it is estimated that it will be around Rs 17 crore per km," Thackeray said. "Imagine your money being wasted to benefit the contractor friends of someone in the government... Mumbaikars get a BMC depleted of funds, traffic, chaos and water logging to make these contractors rich," he added.

Chahal did not respond to mid-day's request for comment.