A recent audit of the Comptroller of Auditor General in Mumbai has revealed that the Mumbai civic body BMC wasted Rs 8.44 crore of taxpayers’ money by hiring a contractor to repair a stretch of SV Road that could have been done for free. The company that originally constructed the 2.5-km stretch in Borivali in 2007 was bound by the contract to fix road defects for no extra cost till December 2012.
However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) did not bother to study the agreement and hired another contractor to repair the stretch in April 2012, the Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG) found after scrutinising roadwork orders of the past few years.
The civic body has been facing public anger over its failure to improve the condition of the city’s thoroughfares despite spending crores on road contracts every year. Activists have repeatedly found faults in its process of awarding contracts, and have pointed to a nexus between officials and contractors.
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