road works scam

civic body

Samajwadi Party corporator Rais Shaikh

civic engineers

BMC engineers

BMC tells corporator it has to recover Rs 63.14 cr from corrupt contractors, figure arrived at by probe committee.The quantum of losses suffered by the BMC in the— said to be one of the biggest scams to have rocked thein recent times — has suddenly shrunk from a whopping Rs 900 crore to Rs 63 crore, if the corporation’s own submission is anything to go by.In a written reply to a query from, the BMC’s roads department has claimed that it has to recover Rs 63.14 crore from the corrupt contractors, whose shoddy constructions and repair works have led to a reduction in the lifespan of the roads. Of this amount, Rs 41.53 crore has already been recovered, the reply adds.However, questions are bound to be asked about the new figure in the light of the BMC’s own probe report in 2016, which had stated that six contractors had cheated the city of Rs 572 crore by cutting corners in construction of over 234 roads. Mumbai Mirror had carried a report on the probe in November 2016.There were two phases of the probe. While just 34 roads were probe in the first phase, the BMC included 200 more in phase 2. By the time the two-year-long inquiry ended and a total of 180were indicted for being hand in glove with the contractors, the losses were pegged at over Rs 900 crore. In fact, six of the 180 engineers were dismissed and 16 top contractors were issued notices. Two topwere even arrested and sent to jail.BMC officials said that the Rs 900-crore figure was arrived at by using a formula that took into account the scope of work, the cost of the road, reduction in its life because of shoddy work, the extent of irregularities and the expenditure of relaying the road.A disbelieving Shaikh is now asking how did the scam size suddenly shrink. “The BMC has turned the road scam into a joke. How did the amount of losses incurred by the civic body become so less suddenly? If the figure is just Rs 63 crore, then what was the furore for and why do we have such pathetic roads? The contractors should be made to pay more for their shoddy work,” Shaikh said.The SP corporator further alleged that there was a nexus between the tainted contractors and officials from the BMC’s roads department. “They must re-calculate the losses by roping in an external third party. Only then will the real loss figure will emerge,” Shaikh said.BMC officials said that the figure was based on the final investigation report.“The recovery amount is based on the final investigation reports of both phases. The amount is being recovered from the deposits that the contractors made with us. Also, these contractors are engaged in several ongoing projects, mainly repair works awarded before investigation. So, we can also recover the money from these projects. The amount (Rs 63 crore) can’t be disputed though,” said a senior civic official.“The loss figure has been calculated by the inquiry committee and we are recovering the amount based on a formula. We have already got a portion of the amount and the remaining will be recovered too,” said Vinod Chithore, chief engineer (roads).Earlier, the BMC had stated that it would file a civil suit against the contractors to recover the losses they caused to the civic body, but nothing has been done on this front so far.