Conspiracy to favour bidder in water transport project in Mumbai

Senior BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis has alleged that the government had conspired to hand over nearly 44 acres to Pratibha Industries, a single bidder for the water transport project proposed for Mumbai.DNA was the first to expose this report last week.Fadnavis said: “The government has proposed to hand over nearly 44 acres along the coasts from Nariman Point to Charkop to the company. While making the proposal to hand over such a huge land to the single bidding company, the government does not have proper research about the jetty, passage terminals and utilities to be provided at various points.”Fadnavis alleged that the office of central vigilance commissioner (CVC) had raised objection to the single bidding process, but the government requested it to approve the project. The CVC’s rules state that single-bid tenders ought not to be accepted in the first instance.“The tender process was designed in such a manner that the company was granted favour even though it had no adequate experience in the water transport. A day after the project was offered to the company, the CBI had raided its offices for its EPF scam of Rs125 crore,” he alleged, demanding the cancellation of the bid offered to the company and re-start the entire process.The project is an important, eco-friendly mass transit initiative. It envisages linking the western waterfront of Mumbai with passenger water transport terminals along the route from Nariman Point to Bandra, Juhu, Versova, Marve and Borivli.