BMC bent rules to favour tree census agency
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MUMBAI: Alleged malpractice in the shortlisting of a contract to be awarded for the city tree census has come to the fore with the tree authority members claiming that garden department officials have bent rules so that the tender could be awarded to their chosen agency.
The Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has launched a probe into the entire tendering process. At a Tree Authority meeting on Wednesday, municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said the contract would be awarded only after he received the inquiry report. Deputy municipal commissioner SS Shinde, who is in charge of gardens, also said a detailed probe had been launched to verify the allegations.
The cost of the census project is about Rs 6 crore and the work involves counting of all the trees in the city, noting down their various characters such as their species, age, height, length, girth, medicinal value and economic importance.
The probe was launched after the tree authority members wrote to Kunte, pointing to the procedural lapses in the tender process, right from the stage of accepting tenders to that of scrutinizing them and finalizing the contract. The letter also mentioned that to win the project, contractors had to submit completion certificates of similar work they had done for any other government agency. But the document submitted by the shortlisted contractor was not a completion certificate as the agency's lone experience in this field was a project in Pune which was yet to be finished, the letter said. The "Civic officials blatantly bent the rules so that their favoured agency could be chosen," said BJP corporator Ameet Satam, who is also a member of the Tree Authority. He added that the firm was earlier blacklisted by Pune municipal corporation (PMC), which found its tree census unsatisfactory. But for reasons best known to them, the blacklisting was withdrawn in April, Satam added.
Tree authority members also alleged that officials of the civic garden department allowed the shortlisted agency to submit documents required for the tender process much later than the deadline.
The Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has launched a probe into the entire tendering process. At a Tree Authority meeting on Wednesday, municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said the contract would be awarded only after he received the inquiry report. Deputy municipal commissioner SS Shinde, who is in charge of gardens, also said a detailed probe had been launched to verify the allegations.
The cost of the census project is about Rs 6 crore and the work involves counting of all the trees in the city, noting down their various characters such as their species, age, height, length, girth, medicinal value and economic importance.
The probe was launched after the tree authority members wrote to Kunte, pointing to the procedural lapses in the tender process, right from the stage of accepting tenders to that of scrutinizing them and finalizing the contract. The letter also mentioned that to win the project, contractors had to submit completion certificates of similar work they had done for any other government agency. But the document submitted by the shortlisted contractor was not a completion certificate as the agency's lone experience in this field was a project in Pune which was yet to be finished, the letter said. The "Civic officials blatantly bent the rules so that their favoured agency could be chosen," said BJP corporator Ameet Satam, who is also a member of the Tree Authority. He added that the firm was earlier blacklisted by Pune municipal corporation (PMC), which found its tree census unsatisfactory. But for reasons best known to them, the blacklisting was withdrawn in April, Satam added.
Tree authority members also alleged that officials of the civic garden department allowed the shortlisted agency to submit documents required for the tender process much later than the deadline.
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