western and eastern highways

municipal family welfare programme

BMC

Ms KK Carrier

Shree Kaviraj Infratech

Congress legislator Aslam Shaikh

Her firm has been shortlisted for a Rs 25-crore project involving mechanical sweeping of theCritics are calling it a— for contractors. Thehas shortlisted a company owned by the wife of a blacklisted contractor for a Rs 25-crore task involving mechanical sweeping of western and eastern highways.The company,, can now submit bids without worrying about its controversial background.This is yet another instance where a relative of a banned contractor has successfully applied for a civic project, making a mockery of efforts to punish people who cheat the city by carrying out shoddy work or manipulating bills. Mirror had last month published two reports on the BMC’s flawed policy for allowing the relatives, who are appointed as company directors, to bid.Ms KK Carrier and Ms Kaviraj MBB Waste Management Pvt Ltd, which have struck a joint venture, were named among the shortlisted entities for the mechanical road sweeping contract last week.According to the documents with the civic body, Ms KK Carrier is a proprietary firm of Laxmidevi Jain, the wife of Jamnalal Jain whose company, Ms, has been barred from civic-work contracts for seven years over the 2016 desilting scam. Ms KK Carrier itself was blacklisted for a year by the solid waste management department in 2009 for fabricating slips at BMC-operated weighbridges.Ms Kaviraj has 51 per cent stake in the JV with Laxmidevi’s company. After learning about the two companies’ application for the Rs 25-crore project, the BMC’s legal department told senior officials that the firm run by Laxmidevi’s husband was on the blacklist and therefore Ms KK Carrier should be automatically ruled out. Ms KK Carrier should not be allowed to bid for the contract in its independent capacity or in a collaboration.But the solid waste management department still shortlisted it along with Ms Kaviraj and sent the file to municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta. The department said in its note that Ms KK Carrier should be permitted to bid as it had only a minority stake of 49 per cent in the JV.Additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal, who heads the department, told Mirror on Friday that Mehta had cleared Ms KK Carrier and Ms Kaviraj’s request to bid. “We sent the file with all the facts to the municipal commissioner, who has approved the proposal. We are processing it now,” Singhal said.The department has been facing criticism for allowing tainted contractors to be involved in new civic projects.“This is just not acceptable. Ms KK Carrier tried to cheat the BMC and was blacklisted (in 2009). In addition to that, the firm is owned by the wife of another blacklisted contractor. How can the BMC allow it bid for a project?” said. “It looks like the solid waste management department has become a family welfare department where relatives of blacklisted contractor get work.”In June last year, Shaikh had exposed a scam by contractors tasked with transporting the city’s garbage. Those contractors were also earlier blacklisted, but still managed to bid for the work. “The chief minister has ordered an inquiry into the scam, yet the BMC is backing tainted contractors. It seems the chief minister’s word has no value,” he said.Jamnalal Jain, meanwhile, said there was nothing wrong with his wife’s firm being allowed to bid. “In a similar case, we got a contract for Ms Kaviraj from the same department. So there is nothing wrong with this tender. The BMC will decide whether to give work to Ms KK Carrier or not,” he said.