Cancellation Of Tender Due To Political Pressure; Roads Of Pune Again In Deteriorated Condition
Pune, 7th January 2023: Two former house leaders, two MLAs, and three former corporators brought political pressure in the tender of Rs 63 crores for asphalting roads of the Road Department of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Finally, the municipal administration has canceled these tenders citing errors and discrepancies in the terms and conditions of this tender.
In the last two years, the roads have been repeatedly dug up for various reasons including Equal Water Supply Scheme, sewage canals, rain drains, electricity lines, mobile cables, etc. After that, the potholes were filled with cement concrete or asphalt, but this work was not done properly, so the roads are crumbling. Roads are not at the same level due to repeated cement and asphalting there.
Due to the ‘G20’ conference in January and June of 2023, it is necessary to keep the roads in good condition. For this, the Municipal Corporation has estimated the cost of Rs 500 crore for asphalting all the roads.
In this, in the first phase, the tender process of Rs 193 crores was completed for 50 km of roads in three packages. After that, work worth Rs 142 crore will be done in the other three packages. Two of the packages are worth around Rs 53 crore each while the other package is worth Rs 36 crore. It includes some field office roads and two culverts.
While the process for this is going on, four contractors namely ATR Construction, SMC Infrastructure, Nikhil Construction, and Krushnai Construction have filed petitions for the tender of Rs 63 crores for the first and fourth tenders in the total package of the second phase.
There was a fight between two former leaders of the house to get the work of the contractor of their own choice. The dispute was over the requirement of a plant within 30 km of the tender.
Two MLAs and three former corporators also jumped into the controversy. The dispute was reported to Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil. Patil had ordered that if anyone is doing wrong, take action and accept the tender as per the rules. Congress City President Arvid Shinde also demanded to cancel the said tender.
Finally, the municipal administration has canceled these tenders citing errors and discrepancies in the terms and conditions of this tender.
There was a deadline of six months to do the work on this road. But the consultant has reported that it is not possible to work within this deadline. Therefore, this tender has been canceled. Therefore, a new tender has to be issued for this work.
Join Punekar News Whatsapp Group, Telegram, Instagram And Twitter For Regular Update about Pune City And Pimpri-Chinchwad
