BMC outsources cleanliness job to housekeeping agency

Here's a classic case where civic administration doesn't trust its own employees for the upkeep of the BMC headquarters and have appointed a private agency to do the same. The municipal commissioner's move speaks a lot as it is Inching towards privatisation of sorts.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to outsource housekeeping agency for the upkeep of civic headquarters. For this civic body will pay roughly Rs 14 lakh per month to the agency as the two years contract will cost BMC Rs 3.37 crore. The idea of issuing the contract to private house keeping agency is to maintain the cleanliness standard in the civic headquarters.

The appointment of the new agency will be done by replacing 19 maintenance department staff. While the actual strength of the staff should have been 120, civic body hasn't filled the posts since past several years. Civic administration plans to transfer the staff from the civic headquarters to different department or other wards. However, civic sources claim that only 19 staff members have to run around to ensure the upkeep of mammoth building, there is vacancy of 101 odd posts for upkeep of the headquarters in different section of maintenance department. But the administration is not filling the post since past several years and the work suffers.

"Maintenance department of the BMC handles all situations but here the irony is that the contract doesn't lists out all the necessary works need to be done on daily basis in the civic body. While there is mention of cleaning and maintaining the civic corporation hall, offices of municipal commissioner, additional municipal commissioners, political party offices, offices of chairpersons of different civic committees and other offices, the cleaning of toilets and other areas of civic headquarters is not mentioned in the proposal," said sources.

"Also for a two-year contract more than Rs3.37 crore is being spent. Ideally, out of 730 days of two years at least the civic body will not working for 200 days given all the other festivals and weekly holidays. Then this contract is a costly affair," said sources.