PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: Refuting allegations of corruption in awarding contracts for development projects in the past few months, Shravan
Hardikar, the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner, said the civic administration has, in fact, saved Rs 30 crore while awarding the contracts.
About a week ago,
Shiv Sena MPs
Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil and
Shrirang Barne had alleged that corruption, to the tune of Rs 90 crore, had taken place in the awarding of contracts for Rs 425 crore worth of works. The Shiv
Sena leaders had also alleged that unlike his predecessors, Hardikar did not negotiate with the bidders to lower the rates.
Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, Hardikar refuted the allegations and said, "Earlier the PCMC, like other civic bodies, followed the district scheduled rate while preparing the estimated cost for projects. Later, the Union and state governments introduced goods and service tax and state schedule rate (SSR). We had asked the state public works department if it had prepared an SSR for raw materials. But the department had not done that. So PCMC prepared the SSR as per the new rules. We also prepared the estimated cost. We conducted negotiations whenever we found there were technical reasons that allowed us to negotiate. We were able to save about Rs 30 crore."
"I scrutinize the files on development works between Friday and Sunday. I scrutinize the files for 10 days by holding discussions with civic officials before signing on them. I signed all the files on a single day after they had been checked thoroughly. This doesn't mean I sign on files in haste," he said.
"We have an e-tendering process for accepting bids from contractors. We also accept printed copies of the bids from contractors after they have submitted their online bids. The number of contractors who regularly submit bids and get contracts is around a dozen and that has been the case over the years. New contractors are welcome to submit their bids," said Hardikar while responding to allegations favouritism.
Representative Image
