'24*7 water supply: Action recommended against consultant’

'24*7 water supply: Action recommended against consultant’

Pune: Congress leader in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Arvind Shinde said that the estimate committee of the civic body has recommended action against the consultant in the 24X7 water supply scheme, for seeking Rs 5 crore. The contractor had sought the sum for assessment of its own report about the scheme. 

Shinde said that it is illegal and action should be taken against the contractor, as recommended by the estimate committee. Shinde claimed that since the civic body has not taken action against the consultant, and as the same consultant continued, even after fresh tendering of the project, the municipal commissioner must take action against the said contractor. 

Even after the re-tendering of 24X7 water supply scheme for the city, the proposal continues to be mired in controversy. It may be recalled that the civic body had appointed Italy-based SGI consultancy to prepare a detailed project report. The PMC had agreed to pay Rs 18 crore to the consultant in 11 years. But, as the earlier tender got cancelled, it was revealed that the PMC had agreed to pay Rs 5 crore more, which is 1.75 per cent of the total cost of the contract of Rs 2,310 crore. Moreover, the company preparing the detailed project report and assessing it are one and the same.

Due to this, the estimate committee has recommended that the PMC should take action against the consultant. Shinde said, “The consultant had suggested terms and conditions for the tender to ensure that the award of the work goes to a specific contractor. Therefore, no fair competition has taken place during the bidding process. Earlier, BJP-affiliated Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Kakade also raised serious questions about this tender.

He had said that he had approached Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and if required, he will approach CAG, the court, as well as Central Vigilance Commission, against this tender process. My demand is that this consultant should be blacklisted and a fresh tender should be floated for appointing a new agency.” 

Shinde alleged that Municipal Commissioner Kunal Kumar has taken special care so that no documents related to this project should be leaked. If anyone sought details about the project, officials said that it should be sought through an application through the Right to Information Act.

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