900 trucks ferried muck from Mantralaya, nobody noticed

After the rat scam, questions are being raised about removal of 900 tonnes of debris from Mantralaya, of which there are allegedly no official records.

Nothing can be more shocking than that 900 trucks were shown engaged in transporting debris from Mantralaya in a year -which were not noticed by anyone.

The details of the kind of vehicles used to transport the debris and the dates on which the garbage was removed are just not available. Also, who authorised the movement and what was the activity that generated so much debris? The state government needs to answer all these questions, says Senior National Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde.

Three different societies were given the order. The first work order was given to a labour cooperative society in 2015 after the revamp of the old building was almost over. The estimated cost of the bid awarded by the presidency division of the Public Works Department was Rs 297,500.

Under this contract, 450 majdoors (casual workers) and 400 sweepers were appointed for removal and cleaning of the garbage on daily wages of Rs 350 each/day.

The second contract was awarded to Sanchar Majdoor Cooperative Society based at Lalbaugh on the same day and the amount involved was Rs 298,905. Under this, PWD had approved appointment of 320 labourers and 320 sweepers Rs 350 per day charge.

The PWD also approved hiring of trucks to carry debris from Mantralaya to the dumping point for Rs 4993.65 per trip. The Amol Majdoor society, Wadala, was given the tender worth Rs 288,778.

Arvind Suryawanshi, Superintendent Engineer of PWD, has confirmed that when just 15 trucks were allowed, it was shown in documents that 545 trucks had removed the debris from the Mantralaya.

Another official from PWD revealed that more than 900 trucks were shown to ferry the debris on paper.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a probe into the matter. Chandrakant Patil, the PWD minister, had called a meeting of all officers on Saturday morning and warned them about the action in this scam.