No payment to contractors involved in road scam for ongoing & completed work: BMC chief

Despite all the scams and shoddy work, road contractors seldom go out of work in Mumbai because investigations take too long and they always manage to close their next project before the dust settles.

What makes it all the more easy, is their ability to get paid for the work irrespective of the quality.

To address the issue, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has instructed the department to stop paying relevant contractors till the inquiry into the road scam is over.

According to a Mid-Day report, Mehta has directed the Chief Engineer (Roads) and Chief Accountant (Finance) to withhold any balance payment for both ongoing and completed work of the tainted contractors.

When the daily contacted the Municipal chief for a confirmation, he neither confirmed nor denied the development, “We will do whatever is best in the interest of the BMC and taxpaying citizens,” he said.

Back in 2015, Mehta had ordered an inquiry into all city roads following multiple complaints about shoddy road repairs. Mayor Snehal Ambekar had also written to the Municipal Commissioner, highlighting the issues and demanding action against the contractors in question.

During the first inspection, all 34 roads checked by the civic body were found to be of substandard quality. A subsequent check of other roads also showed the similar trend.

Following which, the BMC filed an FIR against 6 contractors at Azad Maidan police station. The contractors in question were J Kumar, RPS Infra, KR Construction, Relcon Infraprojects, Mahavir Infrastructure and RK Madhani.

The FIR also named the third party auditors and a total of 26 persons, including civic officials and contractors, were arrested in connection with the scam.