BMC spent Rs10 Lakh on collection, sale of newspaper waste in 2014

In a shameful waste of public money, the BMC has spent Rs10 lakh on collection and sale of newspaper waste in civic offices. Corporators have demanded that a thorough inquiry be held into the matter.

The BMC had invited e-tenders for the contract of collecting and selling newspaper waste from various municipal departments for the year 2014-15. Three agencies including M/s Unique Agencies, M/s Shaikh Traders and M/s J.J. Enterprises had sent bids for the contract. M/s Unique Agencies, which emerged as the lowest bidder, was paid Rs10 lakh by BMC for the job.

The proposal was tabled before the civic standing committee for approval on Friday. However, taking strong objection to it, corporators alleged that the civic body had spent lakhs of rupees on work from which it could have earned a lot more money.

Congress Corporator Pravin Chheda said, “It is common knowledge that we get money by selling newspaper waste. Scrap dealers even come to your doorstep to collect the waste. But here, the BMC itself is offering money to contractors to collect and sell the waste. This is utter waste of public money.”

Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Shaikh said that instead of inviting tenders, the BMC should have auctioned the newspaper waste.Corporators also alleged that the proposal was illegal. “According to the amended municipal act 69, details of works costing `five lakh to Rs 75 lakh, which have been sanctioned by the Mayor and Municipal Commissioner, should be given to the standing committee within 15 days. But the civic administration has tabled 14 such proposals after a gap of several months. An inquiry should be held against the Commissioner in this regard,” said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena group leader Sandeep Deshpande.