Gurudas Kamat

All India Congress Committee general secretary Gurudas Kamat has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis among other senior state officials to probe alleged irregularities in the awarding of road construction contracts in Mumbai.

Mr Kamat, in a letter addressed to Mr Fadnavis, state Lokayukta Justice M.L. Tahaliyani and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Ajoy Mehta, has alleged that some contractors involved in corrupt practices were bidding for road construction projects in Mumbai, and were even bagging contracts worth Rs 100 crore.

The leader made the allegations, citing a report in a city tabloid. He has accused some contractors of incomplete documentation, saying this rendered them ineligible.

He said one of the “ineligible” contractors had even bagged a contract worth Rs 100 crore. He alleged there was a “cartel of contractors,” which has hoodwinked officials or is “hand in glove” with them.

He said firms floated under same partner names, particularly if one of them is blacklisted, should be disallowed to take part in the bidding.

Mr Kamat has demanded the addressees to take note of his complaint, and sought a reversal of the contracts allotment.

He demanded that an enquiry be carried out into last 10 years of road construction contracts.

A close aide of Mr Kamat claimed that the Lokayukta, in a response, asked the BMC to conduct an inquiry and submit a report to him within two weeks.

Mumbai residents have supported the demand for probing the (road construction) contracts allotment of the past 10 years, he said.