BMC to spend Rs 2 cr on pens and erasers

The civic corporation plans to purchase stationery worth Rs 2 crore for 2018-2020 from its designated contractor for all its wards and departments. The stationery would include ballpoint pens, box files, pencils, erasers, notebooks, plastic trays and other miscellaneous items.

The proposal will be presented for final approval at the BMC Standing Committee meeting scheduled to be held next week. It has already become a talking point among corporators.

The Congress Leader of Opposition in the BMC, Ravi Raja, has cast doubts about the enormous expense that the civic body plans to incur on the purchase of mundane items. He said they would raise objections to the proposal.

“The BMC, on one hand, claims it is moving towards digitalisation and, on the other, it wants to spend crores of rupees on pens, pencils and other stationery, which is contradictory. Besides, if BMC is buying these items in bulk, where is the discount? The price at which they are purchasing these products seems on the higher side,” added Ravi Raja.

The BMC proposal says ballpoint pens, box files, pencils, erasers, notebooks, long notebooks, ruled registers, plastic trays, plastic dustbins, cello tape, sponges, rubber bands and 53 other stationery items will be purchased for two years.

Pens --131,100 units will be bought at a cost of Rs 4.60 lakh while 4,200 calculators will be bought for Rs 4.22 lakh. Other office staples on the list include 36,000 files, 34,000 notebooks, 9,900 HB pencils and 11,400 gum bottles.The end users of the stationery will be the 24 civic wards and departments.