No bids for small nullahs due to BMC action against scamsters

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received no bids till now for tenders to appoint contractors for minor nullah cleaning. This despite publishing the advertisement thrice in leading newspapers.

A source from the civic department said the minor nalluh cleaning work should have begun by April first week itself and has to be completed within the deadline, that is before monsoon.

He said, “An inquiry has been initiated by BMC last year against the 44 major contractors who are said to be involved in last year’s scam. As a result, we are seeing the impact on the minor nullah cleaning tenders. No contractor has come forward to bid for this work, fearing action.”

Workers of contractors who used to take the bid for major nullah cleaning used to conduct minor nullah cleaning work too. But after action against contractors the civic body is finding it difficult to get bids.

The official said, “The tender

process would be open for bids till May 3. After the last day if no contractor approaches we will ask the Solid Waste Department (SWD) to carry the silt from their vehicles”.

In fact, tenders for major and minor nullah were floated at the same time in November last year. Nearly 75% work order for major nullahs was complete before elections and the remaining 25% was sanctioned after the new civic body was elected. In that period, there no response for the minor nullahs.

“Previously the first tender was issued for both removal and transport of the silt to the contractors but since no response was received, we changed the conditions as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) approached us to clean the nullahs. Hence a tender for silt only carrying was given. Till now we have not received any response for transporting the silt,” he mentioned.

The entire cost of minor nullah cleaning is Rs.3.5 crore of which estimated 65,000 metric ton of silt would be removed.