Lifeguard appointment tender goes to company with tainted record

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s decision to award a contract to a particular agency for the appointment of lifeguards at the city’s beaches has came under the scanner.

The opposition has alleged that a tainted contractor, who in the past had got into trouble with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), has been awarded a contract for the same.

According to civic officials, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) had issued tenders for hiring 93 lifeguards from private agencies.

Currently, the MFB has 34 lifeguards of which only 11 are permanent civic employees, while the rest are on contract basis.

Drishtii Lifesaving Private Limited has bagged the contract as it was the sole bidder in the tender process.

But opposition party leader Ravi Raja objected saying the company’s earlier record is tainted.

“MTDC had previously rented out space on Girgaum Chowpatty to Drishtii Adventure Sports Pvt Ltd. But there was a major dispute over non-payment of rent since 2013 and MTDC had even filed a complaint against them. Why does the BMC want to enter into a contract worth Rs 10 crore with a company that has already been in a dispute with another body of the state government?”asked Mr Raja.

However, fire officials clarified that Drishtii was the only bidder, which responded to the open tender. “There are no records on the agency or any other company belonging to it having being  blacklisted by the BMC,” said a senior fire official.