Schools in the city have been shut for almost a year, but the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) continues to splurge on private agencies for maintaining them. A proposal has been tabled before the Standing Committee for the maintenance contract that was initially approved for Rs 209.78 crore but now has increased to Rs 368.89 crore.

Three contractors were assigned for the city, the eastern suburbs and western suburbs at Rs 209.78 crore in all for three years. However, they were given jobs worth more than Rs160 crore though tenders were not issued in the past two years, raising the contract amount to Rs 368.89 crore. Interestingly, even when schools were closed due to lockdown, works worth about Rs 64 crore were awarded to these contractors. The BMC doesn’t seem to be issuing fresh tenders any time soon as the extension of the contract period has been proposed to be till September 2021.