The After Effects- Desilting Scan -Part 3.
It’s for the first time I think that MCGM has issued a statement in the desilting scam proclaiming innocence. If MCGM had not rigged the Desilting project then what was the need of the contractors to approach the High Court against the manipulation done allegedly by Mr Nitin Patil & Mr Madhani for the mandatory inclusion of a 35ft long boom in addition to the Pantoons?
It also makes me wonder if the reason for inclusion of the Boom placer as given by MCGM was that, Mithi river was wide in various places then considering the fact that it’s not the first time that desilting tender on Mithi has been called, why was the decision to include the Boom Placer taken at the last moment? Also why was the quotation of the same not taken earlier so that it could be incorporated in the estimate? I shall tell you the reason–Our Da ‘Banger’ officer had not predicted disgruntled contractors moving the court and raising all these relevant questions and more which brought the curtains down on the attempt of cartelization by Mr Madhani & Gang.
Fortunately, due to the direction of the High Court, MCGM had to open the bids of all the bidders thereby ruining the efforts put in by Madhani & Gang. I am no Astrologer, but as I had predicted in my blog on 27th February that no cartel had been done in the Minor Nalla and bid would go below -15% as was the trend in the last few years & so has come true.
And as seen in the Major Nalla, If the Hon’ble High court wouldn’t have intervened, the projects were all set to be awarded to contractors who had bid 13.5% & above. This 14% above bids were quoted to accommodate the high rentals of the Boom placer and the Pantoons at the cost of the public exchequer. The lowest qualified bidder i.e. Bhumika Transport who didn’t go with the cartel had bid at 4.5% above. According to my sources at MCGM, he has officially conveyed his willingness to offer 10% more discount bringing his bid amount to 5% below.
The department though is all set to recall these bids so that Mr. Nitin Patil gets another attempt to do proper cartelisation. After being reprimanded by the High Court and getting valid offers which come below estimates, the MCGM is mulling with the choice to recall is quite shocking considering MCGM is cash strapped and elections are just round the corner. Why has the public exchequer been exploited to appease an influential politician and a company by the name of Vaibhav Hydraulic from Baramati? Is it true MCGM?
What needs to be seen is that in case these bids get recalled whether the clause for MOU making the use of machines ie Pantoons & Boom placer mandatory remains in place or not. If that remains, the work is less about spending money for desilting and more to fill the pockets of those who rent these machines. A simple MOU inserted has bidders bidding at 14% above for those who were a part of the cartel and Minus 5% for those who defied that MOU. There is no rocket science to explain further.
I hope the MCGM takes cognisance of my Blogs as it would help them make prudent financial decisions & help save the cost of poor Mumbaikars. I hope MCGM has taken adequate precautions to ensure that the same doesn’t happen in the Mithi development project whereby an already blue eyed boy of an officer has openly and blatantly claimed that his proposed JV is all set to bag the tender.
Might be Mr. Gupta and his officer friend take a leaf or two from the Desilting experience and know that “Satyamev Jayate”.
Vikrant Meena Hemant Joshi.
