Top cop to probe BMC projects

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 12000 crore in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC between November 28 2019 and October 31 2022 which were found by the Comptroller and Auditor General CAGThe announcement came on the day when both Shiv Sena factions celebrated the partyrsquos foundation dayThe CAG was commissioned to audit the period between November 28 2019 and October 31 2022 Uddhav Thackeray was chief minister and his party the thenunified 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 SenaBJP regime The new government had ordered a CAG probe after allegations of corruption especially during the pandemic were raised Works costing Rs 12023 crore that were carried out by nine departments were specified for the auditThe BMC has been governed by an administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal since the term of house expired early last year PicSayyed Sameer AbediIn 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 officersMost of the period the CAG has highlighted was ruled by the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA of which the united Sena was an allyFinance 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 bodyThe ruling party members had demanded action by the AntiCorruption Bureau ACB or by a committee of legislatorsldquoThis is just a trailer Itrsquos only about the work costing Rs 12000 crorerdquo Fadnavis had said while making a statement on the CAG reportHowever 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 COVID19 Rs 3538 crore despite repeated requests said the CAG adding that the nonsubmission of records had deprived the civic body of crucial audit inputs which would have been beneficial for any course correction and systemic improvementsThe audit states that the BMC awarded 20 works across two departments valued at Rs 21448 crore without inviting tenders and in violation of its own vigilance rules and that in 64 works costing Rs 475594 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 335557 crore across three departments thirdparty auditors were allegedly not appointedThe 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 crorefor rehabilitationFurther 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 BMCrsquos tendering process and a forensic report said that there was a scope for manipulation but no action was takenAccording 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 saidThe cost of the 43km twin tunnel in Sanjay Gandhi National Park rose to R6322 crore from the earlier estimate of Rs 4500 crore in August 2022 because the forest departmentrsquos 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 240 crore was billed for itOther points in the report mention a studentsrsquo hostel at KEM Hospital which was built without the district collectorrsquos approval The BMC was fined Rs 270 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 outBesides in the global tendering for the solid waste management departmentrsquos lsquowaste to energy projectrsquo the condition for the minimum daily processing capacity was reduced to 600 tonnes from 3000 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 scheduleRs 12000 crAlleged worth of irregularitiesJune 30Day in 2022 Eknath Shinde came to power