BMC paid Rs 2.86 cr to count 30L trees

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) spent Rs 2.86 crores for merely counting the city trees in its jurisdiction. The contractor who was appointed for the same sought three extensions in a span of four years. The original contract was for less than Rs 30 lakh.

The tree counting, however, excludes the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and mangrove areas.

The contract was given to Saar IT Resources Private Ltd. in February 2014 for the cost of Rs 9.90 per tree for a period of 15 months, in which it counted 21 lakh trees. Later in 2016, six lakh trees were counted in six wards-- H/East, H/West, T, R/South, R/Central and R/North-- where the contractor was paid Rs 9 per tree. This time after the contractor was given an extension of six months. So eventually, the contractor was given an additional contract of Rs. 54 lakhs for the remaining trees.

As if two contracts were not enough, the agency failed to

The contractor who was appointed to count the trees in Mumbai sought three extensions in a span of four years. The original contract was for less than Rs 30 lakh.

count trees from the VIP regions, Defence areas and government offices and peripherals was still pending. The report submitted by the contractor to the BMC excluded these trees and so, a recounting was done in the third extension during which the civic body paid Rs 24,75,000 to count the remaining 2,75,000 trees.

“This is failure on the part of civic body and the tree authority. The BMC hired the agency since they were low bidders. Their contract should have been repudiated for the first time itself. Renewing it thrice made no sense. Their motive was clear. This goes on to show lack of knowledge on both the parties,” aid Niranjan Shetty, ex-member of Tree Authority of BMC.

The original contract was signed for 21 lakh trees for which the civic body paid Rs. 2,07,09,000 rupees. The first extension came in for the six lakh trees for which they were paid an additional Rs. 54 lakh and then for the third extension, the civic body paid an excess of Rs. 24,75,000 to count 2,75,000 trees. In all, the civic body paid Rs. 2,86,65,000 to count 29,75,000 trees.

Tree activists and environmentalists vehemently rubbished the claims and said the monetary figures as well as tree count are bloated. “According to the agency, there are close to 30 lakh trees in the city and the area of Mumbai is around 160 square kilometer. Based on that calculation, the agency claims Mumbai has more than 18,000 trees for per square kilometer. This is the height of absurdity as it also means there is a tree for each Mumbai dweller,” said Stalin D, Director, Vanashakti NGO.