The civic body had taken up repair works of more than 240 roads last year, 34 of these were sampled as part of the investigation into the scam. These roads were selected randomly.
Financial losses apart, irregularities in repair works have ruined the quality of city roads, rued senior civic officials. Opposition leader Pravin Chheda on Tuesday demanded that the municipal commissioner hand over inquiry into the scam to the Economic Offences Wing even as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is now planning to bring in changes in the entire machinery and system as well as transparency and rationalisation in the tender process.
Meanwhile, a suspension letter was served to former chief engineer (roads) Ashok Pawar, who was named in the inquiry report. Sampling of 200-odd roads has been started phase-wise as ordered by municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta. The second round of inquiry will start next week.
The civic body had taken up repair works of more than 240 roads last year, 34 of these were sampled as part of the investigation into the scam. These roads were selected randomly.
The inquiry report reveals an important point — weak tender conditions and criteria listed by the department officials. "It is a well-known fact that each time a tender is issued, conditions and criteria are tweaked by civic officials to accommodate the contractors," said a senior civic official, who added that until now the Defect Liability Period (DLP) was five years, but since the Master Plan — a project worth Rs7,500-8,000 crore — for the city roads was designed, the DLP was cut to three years.
Senior civic officials lamented the change, saying that the life of recently constructed roads too has come down to three years as against the earlier 10 years.
The municipal commissioner in his report has pointed out that there is an urgent need to address the process of tendering. The condition and criteria of the tenders will have to be made more transparent and rational.
The 150-page inquiry report, submitted by Mehta to mayor Snehal Ambekar on Monday, was prepared by a committee headed by additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh and having on board deputy municipal commissioner Vasant Prabhu and chief engineer (bridges) SO Kori. The report recommends action against the top brass, including IAS officers.
It has detailed information of various kind of irregularities done by contractors, ranging from 38% to 100%, with an average of 53% irregularities being found. The report also mentions sub-standard work done by six contractors and also third-party auditors approving related bills. Civic engineers from the roads department are on the radar as well.
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