Works worth Rs 64 crore were awarded to three contractors; a BMC claims they did looked after schools during the pandemic
Class rooms at Shindewadi Municipal School in Dadar being sanitised in November after they were to reopen then. Pic/Suresh Karkera
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.
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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.
As per the recommendation of the Dhanuka Committee, contractors were selected for carrying out maintenance work in 338 schools across the city. The contract expired on March 17, 2019, and the new contract was supposed to begin. But due to the lethargy of BMC officials, the new tenders that needed to be issued three months before the end of this contract, were not issued. Hence the contractors were given an extension of six months which was further increased. Following this extension, another extension was given during the lockdown though every school in Mumbai was closed.
Schools cleaned by others
During the pandemic, in the past one year, the BMC spent around Rs 64 crore as extensions of six months each were given. While municipal schools were completely closed from March to September, some of these schools were used as quarantine facilities. According to sources, the cleaning of these schools was done by some institutions appointed by the BMC wards.
A civic official said, “The extension has been demanded till September 2021 as we want to be prepared in case schools are started in the near future. We will take time to issue fresh tenders and appoint new contractors. We are focusing on keeping the schools clean. These agencies were maintaining the schools during the pandemic.”
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