Mumbai Mirror’s yet again one sided front page story….
Forgive & Forget–This is how BMC deals with Corruption–Garbage Scam–“Mumbai Mirror
I’m going to talk about the Garbage Scam, one part of the story reported, which the said newspaper is is sensationalising it and spoiling the image of BMC, in common man’s eyes. How does a government officer get motivated after reading this? Be it an IAS officer or even a clerk, what motivation does it give? If your work of months put together, by mere “sabotage” if it is ruined, it is disturbing not only to the officers or the team that played role, but it is unfair to the readers too who are building their opinions reading what you write. In this case of Garbage scam as projected by the newspaper, BMC is shown in poor light. The facts got by the reporter are totally contradicting to the reality. No 1 the efforts of MC Ajoy Mehta & AMC Vijay Singhal needs to be recognised as in the history of MSW department, no one dared to enter the domain, forget identifying their crime and blacklisting them. Secondly, it is common knowledge be it any scam, like say road scam, not everyone is a chor and not everyone can be just blacklisted overnight. Blacklist is a very dangerous term. It ends careers, it ends livelihood for many people. In our country blacklisting someone means severing some 100 families heads at one time.
The punishment depends on the magnitude of the crime. In the infamous road scam of the BMC, there are about 50 contractors right? Not all were or can be punished…So in new contracts of the MSW, if one of the old contractors (who are free from any punishment) is participating in the bid what is the harm? Not all have been part of the scam right? To find new contractor’s for any governing body, it is a task. Not everyone is equipped with the criteria required for qualifying the contracts. Then there are ten thousand other issues to be a BMC contractor. See there is mafia in every contractual work, lets come to a consensus on this . If RP Shah (a road contractor) for e.g. has got blacklisted he still gets works at the BMC or MMRDA. The firm has got blacklisted and not the person. He can again enter into bidding process with a different name right?
Now the in question garbage scam is totally a different case. The one’s blacklisted also have a powerful reason to explain their side, but that’s altogether a different story. I’m sure MC Mehta & the authorities will be fair in whatever they do. By the way FYI, you will be surprised to know the total scam of Garbage Contractors is not more than Rs. 1000/- .I am predicting the story given to the paper is the same person who has vested interest in getting two new companies from Delhi & the veteran ANTONY (the biggest s*** of all) entry in this business again…Where was this same paper when Deonar dumping ground was left in lurch by the same contractor, OR where was this paper when the same ANTONY overnight left the waste of Mumbai on the streets (literally) for the more profitable Deonar project or Kanjurmarg project? Oh…forgot Kanjurmarg dumping ground is another scam by the way….Getting details soon….So these new entrants want these small time contractors to die who have given 30 years of their life to this business. Now for 30 years who has done this “dangerous” job of picking of waste, in my eyes if all even if they do Rs. 50,000 ka chori, it should be left alone, maximum by warning letters & hefty fine. That’s what the BMC has done…but again, we are reporters and we need our “breaking stories” to get those silly awards…By the way “Balam” pyaare beware–heard many people who have obliged you for years with everything are just cursing you… One of them reminded me of a famous dialogue from the movie THE GODFATHER..”Revenge is the best dish served cold”…
Vikrant Joshi
