Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, met Ajoy Mehta, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, on Tuesday to discuss issues faced by self-help groups (SHGs) which prevent them from supplying mid-day meals to children in civic-run schools.
Ms. Fadnavis said that the SHGs in the city wanted the BMC to relax certain conditions in its tender process. The BMC has around three lakh students enrolled in municipal schools across the city and it invites expression of interest from interested parties to provide the children with mid-day meals. The work is allotted to applicants who meet the BMC’s requirements and tender conditions. This year, the tender process is set to begin soon. However, many SHGs are of the opinion that the BMC has laid down strict criteria for awarding work.
Earlier, members of aggrieved SHGs had met Ms. Fadnavis to voice their concerns. On Tuesday, representatives from these SHGs and MLC Pravin Darekar were part of Ms. Fadnavis’s delegation which met Mr. Mehta at the civic body’s headquarters.
The demands put forward by the SHGs included reducing the minimum kitchen area requirement from 1,000 sq.ft. to 225 sq.ft., bringing down the amount for minimum transaction from ₹25 lakh to ₹5 lakh, and releasing pending dues. Mr. Darekar said Mr. Mehta agreed to clear pending dues within one month.
He said, “The commissioner has agreed to most of our demands. In two cases, the demands need to be addressed by the State and Central governments. The BMC will be making a recommendation on our behalf.”
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Ms. Fadnavis said, “There were issues faced by SHGs with regard to the tender conditions. We discussed the clauses that should be relaxed so that these women will be able to participate in the process. The commissioner was positive and agreed to make changes wherever possible.”