Mechanised sweeping at Sec 17 for Rs 30L a month

Sandeep Rana
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 17

Sector 17 will see mechanised sweeping by a private company for a whopping Rs 30 lakh per month.

Lion Services, the firm which already has a mechanised sweeping contract of Rs 4.26 crore per month for southern sectors, had started the work in December. It was ordered to be continued till March by the approval of the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of the MC.

However, the corporation is bringing the agenda for de facto approval in the monthly House meeting to be held on Tuesday. According to the agenda, the firm will be paid a total of Rs 120 lakh for four months i.e. from December to March. The agenda also proposes to extend the tenure of the work by one year, which is further extendable for three year, by floating an e-tender. It has also been proposed that the areas, which cannot be cleaned with machine, should be cleaned manually. Notably, the civic body has stood 27th in the second quarter of the nationwide cleanliness survey.

“The company has been given the contract till March without following the tender process. The firm belongs to a BJP leader. That is why the BJP leaders, who used to criticise the firm in the MC House earlier, are silent for a long time. We smell a rat. We will oppose it in the House,” alleged Devinder Singh Babla, Leader of the Opposition in the MC House.

“Poor employees, who have not been paid salary, are protesting on roads and the MC is giving a huge amount to the company. Do they want to replace all workers with machines? Earlier, the payment to the firm was stopped over poor performance. Why the work has been given to them again?” he asked.

When contacted Pradyuman Bakshi, General Manager, Lion Services Ltd, said, "Cleanliness is better in southern sectors and issues like non-lifting of C&D waste by the MC are creating problems there."

It may be mentioned here that about two years ago, an audio clip of a ‘setting’ (deal) between BJP councillor Bharat Kumar, who was the then chairman of the MC sanitation committee, and a representative of Lion Company had gone viral.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.