BMC squandered Rs110 crore on consultants in 3 years

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent over Rs110 crore in the last three years on just appointing various consultants to audit civic works.

It splurged Rs51.80 crore, Rs38.02 crore and Rs20.29 crore during 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively, on payments of about 70 consultants appointed to monitor works related to its road, water supply and solid waste management departments.

Civic activists have raised doubt the quality of service provided by such consultants. Opposition leaders, on the other hand, question the practice of appointing third parties for monitoring jobs which are supposed to be carried out by BMC officials.

“The civic body has been appointing consultants for almost every big work it carries out. If consultants are going to monitor road works, there is no role left for officials who should actually be keeping an eye [on the quality of service provided]. When there is no work left for them, how can the officials keep themselves abreast of the civic works?” argues Rais Sheikh, a Samajwadi Party leader.

Civic activists echo Sheikh’s concern and question the reasoning behind appointing consultants for even road works. “It’s understandable if the BMC appoints consultants for dam works. But given the poor quality of road works, authorities’ thought process behind appointing consultants for such works is debatable. It’s ironical that our civic officials visit other states to guide their peers there on ways to monitor works, but in our own city, the BMC chooses to appoint consultants,” says Nikhil Desai, a civic activist associated with NGO AGNI.

The BMC, though, argues that the appointment of consultants is part of its effort to ensure that the auditing process is not judgemental or biased. “Appointing third parties to carry out a quality audit is a standard practice. This ensures a neutral approach to the auditing process. Also, we keep training our staff from time-to-time,” says municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte.