MC withholds unipole tender cancellation

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 21

MC Commissioner KK Yadav today withheld cancelling the tenders for installation of unipoles in the city.

After the Chandigarh Tribune reports on the issue, councillors criticised the MC move during the House meeting today. On Sunday, Yadav had said he had ordered to cancel the tenders and would refloat these.

Earlier, overruling the approval of the MC House given in November last, a technical committee, without inviting two observers, had proposed to cancel the unipole tenders, which could have added about Rs 5 crore to the MC’s sagging revenue.

Councillors Shakti Prakash Devshali, Arun Sood, Jagtar Singh and Gurpreet Singh Dhillon sought to know from the MC Commissioner why the tenders have been cancelled. Retracting from his statement, Yadav said, “We have not finalised cancellation and the files are still with me.”

The House later decided that financial bids of all firms and the whole details of the project will be tabled before it for approval before taking any decision.

“There could be some foul play. Why were we not invited by the technical committee when we are the observers,” said Dhillon. Sood said, “The company owing crores to us has itself stated that it was not a complaint, but a query. Then why are we hell-bent on acting on it? Why were the tenders of both zones cancelled when there was a complaint in case of only one?”

On this, Yadav said, “We cannot see the financial bids of all the firms and we do not know who the highest bidder is?”

Rectification of leakage at multi-level parking okayed

The MC House on Tuesday approved rectification of the leakage at multi-level parking lot. It will be repaired on the recommendations of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee. As per the report, there are two ways of dealing the issue. One of the ways was to make changes in the existing structure, which would cost the MC an estimated Rs 1.41 crore. The other option is to dismantle the existing top surface floor and lay new screed covered with trafficable waterproofing treatment. The work would cost Rs 2.13 crore. After this treatment, the relayed surface can be used for parking two-wheelers and four-wheelers.

Yadav said they would go for the option that would be better. He shared that for the purpose, they would use the Rs 2.66 crore payment of the construction company that was withheld by the MC after anomalies were found in the work. The corporation also has a Rs 18 lakh bank guarantee provided by the company.

F&CC members elected

Councillors Vinod Aggarwal, Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Dalip Sharma, Chandrwati Shukla and Ravinder Kaur unanimously elected members of the Finance and Contract Committee.

Paid parking: Babla seeks CBI probe

• Leader of Opposition Devinder Singh Babla has sought a probe into the issue wherein the highest bidder was ignored while awarding of the parking contract.
• The issue was reported in Chandigarh Tribune.
• “The CBI should probe why the MC settled for about Rs5-crore bid in the paid-parking tender and rejected the higher one of about Rs6 crore. Solvency amount can be showed by one or two banks. It is up to the company,” he said.
• Yadav said solvency amount had to be confirmed by one bank. He said the MC had sought views of some professionals in this regard. “However, the firm has moved the court. We will fight the case there,” he added.

Over one hour spent on congratulating Raj Bala, Sood

• House members wasted over one hour on congratulating new Mayor Raj Bala Malik and new city BJP president Arun Sood. Rather than starting discussion on the agenda, the councillors were seen offering red roses and sharing sweets.
• Councillor Heera Negi questioned the Mayor why her seat was shifted to the last row
• The House took up the issue of a former contractual worker of the MC, who was slapped with a fine of Rs 68.09 lakh under the Public Defacement Act for installing advertisement boards of a religious function in October last year. Alleging that a particular community was being targeted with the imposition of the fine, two councillors asked the MC Commissioner to take back the notice. However, it was later decided that the person can file an appeal in this regard.

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