BMC report reveals road repair scam may get bigger

The preliminary report on the road repair scam in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. Given the number of road works given by the civic body, the scam runs into crores of rupees.

In the first phase, the BMC’s inquiry committee selected only 228 major road works, each of which cost more than Rs 5 crore, for its probe. Of them, it examined 34 road works worth Rs 352 crore as a sample for the probe.

However, the preliminary inquiry report has revealed large-scale malpractices with an average 53 per cent irregularities in the works. But, it has failed to determine the exact quantum of financial loss to the BMC for the works.

According to the civic data, 2,342 in 2013-14, 869 in 2014-15 and 90 roads works were given for the year 2015-16. Of these, 2,000 works are those less than Rs 25 lakh, while 1,000 are works from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 5 crore.

The report says, “There is a striking resemblance in the pattern of irregularities as they are found to be similar in all 34 works inspected, although there were different contractors. The same kind of irregularities must have also happened in all road that were undertaken for repair and new construction. Hence, it is necessary to inspect all the roads.”

Leader of Opposition Pravin Chheda (Congress) said, “The entire road works are a big scam, which will cause a huge loss of crores of rupees to the BMC. Instead of carrying out an inquiry of only major works, the BMC should probe all the road works in the last three years. The inquiry should be carried out by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), and not by civic officials.”

Taking serious note of the scam, BMC chief Ajoy Mehta has directed that a detailed probe be carried out of other road works. “In view of the fact that the first state of inquiry has shown serious irregularities, the additional municipal commissioner (western suburbs) should draw out a schedule for the remaining roads,” he said.

The inquiry committee has suggested to formulate five teams each for island city, eastern and western suburbs for the further inquiry of major roads.