Bhayandar: Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation’s (MBMC) garbage lifting and transportation tender has hit yet another hurdle. The Chief Minister’s office (CMO) has directed the civic administration to put an immediate stop to the ongoing tender process.
The orders followed in response to a complaint filed by Shramjeevi Sanghatana’s Vivek Pandit in context to non-payment of gratuity to the workforce deployed by the existing contractual agency.
In 2012, the MBMC had inked a five-year contract with Global Waste Management Company to lift garbage from the twin-city and ferry it to the dump yard in Uttan. The agency has been on-extension mode since the expiry of the tender last year.
As per rules, workers are eligible for gratuity if they have worked continuously for five years or more. If the contractor does not pay gratuity then the principal employer is liable to pay, which it can recover by deducting payments from the bills raised by the contractor later.
The MBMC has recently floated tenders inviting expressions of interest from companies for the garbage lifting work.
While June 20 is the last date of submission, the tender process and the pre-bid was put on hold after CMO directions, due to gratuity arrears amounting nearly Rs 7 crore.
“To ensure that segregated waste is sent to the processing unit, modalities to appoint an agency have to be completed as per schedule. Attempts were on to resolve the issue,” confirmed deputy civic chief Dr. Sambhajji Panpatte.
The twin-city generates an average of 450 metric tonnes of garbage per day. The company claims to have deployed 79 compactor vehicles and 1599 sanitary workers in the six demarcated zones.
However, the actual ground work is being done by local sub-contractors who have been roped in for the job. The scope of work for the multi-crore contract envisages-daily sweeping, cleaning of roads, gutters, pavements, markets, door to door collection and transportation of dry-wet waste separately as per the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2016.