Congress councillor seeks review of LED lights project

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 18

Congress Councillor Rohan Sehgal has raised an issue that the conditions of the contract for LED lighting project in the city are not in the interest of the Municipal Corporation (MC).

Representing the posh Model Town area, Sehgal says, “I have gone through the preliminary reading of the contract between Municipal Corporation and PCP International Ltd and I can confidently say that the contract clearly benefits the contractor.”

He specifies his reasons, "For this, the MC is going to open an escrow account in which they are supposed to keep Rs 3 cr all the time, the source of which would be revenue generated from various taxes. Infact, the MC has already paid a sum of Rs 40 lakh. I want to know which committee will evaluate what we are getting from the company. Who is verifying the quality as well as standard of the street lights? 

The councillor has even made a representation to the MC in which he has mentioned, “The company is installing a new product and after installation, they will charge Rs 66.90 per point every month, which amounts to Rs 5.22 crore in the first year with an escalation of 5 per cent every year. I have gone through a recent tender of LED lights floated by the MC which says that for five years, maintenance of the lights would be done by the contractor for free. Even the lights which we are getting in MPLADS fund come with two years of free maintenance by contractor. The company is likely to sell us their assembled product and charge Rs 66 cr over 10 years for maintenance.’

Sehgal has put forward his request to immediately stop the formation of escrow account and rather form a committee to review the project allotted during the SAD-BJP regime.