Contractors use raw material scarcity as ruse to delay road works

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) contractors have warned that important pre-monsoon road repair works will come to a standstill across Mumbai for want of stone chips. Their argument is that there is a scarcity of stone chips since activities in over 70 stone quarries in Navi Mumbai are suspended.

A DNA investigation, however, has found this claim to be bogus. Stone chips are readily available and in abundance at quarries in Raigad district, bordering Navi Mumbai, in Thane district.

More than 150 quarries are operational along the Panvel-Uran and Belapur-Uran highway stretches. In fact, road work, building construction and other works are going on in full swing in the region.

Activities at stone quarries in Navi Mumbai were suspended because of an ongoing case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Sources say contractors are using this as a ruse to delay work and jack up project costs, citing escalation in raw material prices.

The move is also being viewed by some as a ploy by the civic administration to absolve itself of any blame for the delay in road repairs ahead of the monsoon season. The deadline, set by the BMC itself, for completion of work is May 30, 2017.

Currently, the civic body has taken up repair work and reconstruction of more than 500 roads, of which close to 100 are to be completed before monsoon. Some major roads in Mumbai have been lying dug up for the past two weeks.

Rajeev Mishra, an activist, said: "Since pre-monsoon work is important in Mumbai, BMC contractors are trying to take the benefit of the situation." He said that quarries in Raigad are not far away from Navi Mumbai quarries, and the distance can be covered in 15-20 minutes.

Also, some BMC contractors have their own quarries in Navi Mumbai and use their own materials for all road works undertaken by them. "Since their quarries are closed, they have to procure materials from other sources. So, they are creating havoc by citing scarcity of materials in order to build up pressure to get their quarries opened," said Mishra.

Pravin Patil, an owner of a quarry in the Panvel region, said: "There is no scarcity of stone chips. At present, there is very low demand because of a slowdown in the real-estate sector."

Even the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing and Industry's (MCHI) Raigad unit has said that it was not aware of any raw material shortage. MCHI Raigad secretary Mahesh Nagrajan said: "I have no idea of what the requirement in Mumbai is. But there is no dearth of stone chips in the region, and all developers are getting it as per their requirement here."

From April 1, all quarry operators were forced to stop mining activity in Navi Mumbai after the Thane collector's office stopped collecting royalty. The collector's office cited a resident's petition in the NGT as the reason. The next hearing is scheduled on May 8.

Namdeo Thakur, president of Navi Mumbai Quarry Owners Association (NMQOA), said that if the state government intervenes, there would be some relief.

Sources claim that the civic body might have bitten off more than it can chew after the criticism it faced over the road scam. "It seems that may have foreseen that work may not get completed before monsoon, and this fear may have prompted them to put the blame on the stone quarries in Navi Mumbai," said sources.

The Roads Department of the BMC has asked contractors to look for new sources of stone chips outside Thane quarries. "We are well aware that there is no scarcity due to closure of quarries in Thane district. We will not allow contractors to arm-twist us for cost escalation," said a senior official from the department.