Mumbai: BMC asked to come clean on Rs 160 crore tunnel laundry bids

MUMBAI: The BJP has alleged a scam in the BMC’s Rs 160-crore tenders for construction and operation of a new tunnel laundry for washing garments from civic hospitals across Mumbai. BJP MLAs Ameet Satam and Mihir Kotecha have alleged that the bids for the laundry were rigged and that the BMC has now picked a Borivli-based department store with no experience of operating a mega laundry for the project.
Additional municipal Commissioner (Health) Sanjeev Kumar said he will ask authorities to examine the complaints. “I will ask the department to examine the issue,” Kumar said.

The BMC had recently floated tenders for setting up and operating a tunnel laundry for 40,000 garments. Garments from across municipal hospitals would be washed at this laundry. In a letter to municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal, Kotecha said Parichay Department Store had bid 12% above the BMC’s estimates which escalated the cost to around Rs 174 crore. “Romin Chedda, director of Parichay Department Stores in Borivli, is also the authorised signatory of Highway Construction Company which was penalised in the penguin enclosure scam, an d more recently, the oxygen tank work. The tender estimate has been inflated by double to Rs 160 crore. Estimates are based on washing capacity of 40,000 garments per day. The washing cost to BMC works to around Rs 17 per garment, which is double the cost we are paying presently to small laundries around the hospitals and at municipal laundry,” said Kotecha in his letter.

Kotecha alleged that tenders were tailor-made for a specific cartel of intermediate companies. “They don’t have any experience running laundry machines/services. The tender pre-qua lifications criteria has been specifically drafted in deviation to the Central Vigilance Commission norms. The Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) department, in nexus with contractors, relaxed the annual financial turnover criteria and accepted annual turnover of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) partners as their favored contractor do not have the required turnover,” said Kotecha. Officials said garments from the BMC’s KEM, Sion, Nair and Cooper hospitals would be sent to the new laundry when it’s set up.
Chedha, director of Parichay Department Store did not reply to a query from TOI. “For hospitals, barrier washers are preferred over tunnel washing to avoid cross contamination. BMC should outsource the services to small service providers,” said Kotecha.