Bio-mining firm in B’puram had been terminated by Kollam & Kannur corps

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Zonta Infratech Pvt Ltd, the company that handles bio-mining at Brahmapuram, was terminated by both Kannur and Kollam municipal corporations for violating the original contract and tender conditions. In Brahmapuram, Zonta Infratech -- which allegedly has close connections with a senior CPM leader -- has defaulted on the stipulated deadline by a good nine months but Kochi corporation has so far not thought fit to review, let alone terminate, the contract.
Former local self-government minister M V Govindan had -- in an answer furnished in the assembly on August 23 last year -- said Kannur corporation had terminated the contract with the company following a dispute over the quantity of waste to be mined and money to be paid. He said the company, after entering into an agreement with the corporation and accepting advance money, raised a dispute over the quantity of waste. On the basis of a request from the corporation, the government entrusted NIT Kozhikode to assess the quantity of waste, which was then estimated at 1,23,822 cubic metres.
“The company then demanded more money and since the demand came to over Rs 21 crore, the corporation council decided to terminate the company's services and recoup the advance money paid, for which the process is on,” the minister’s reply said.
At Brahmapuram too, NIT Kozhikode had conducted an assessment of the quantity of waste and estimated it at 5,51,903 cubic metres. The work was awarded to Zonta for Rs 54.90 crore, and the general specification issued by the local self-government department for land reclamation in Brahmapuram says the work should be completed in nine months. This meant the work of removing the waste and levelling the ground should have been completed by the end of June last year, as the agreement was signed on September 6, 2021.
However, LSG minister M B Rajesh told the assembly this week that the work should have ended in September and it had been extended for six months. Kannur corporation chairman T O Mohanan told TOI that the initial contract with the company to remove waste from the Chelora dump yard was for Rs 6.8 crore, out of which the company demanded 10% as advance. “The corporation paid Rs 68.60 lakh to the company and since the contract has been cancelled, we are going ahead with legal proceedings to recoup the money,” he said. Mohanan said the company demanded approximately Rs 21.23 crore after reassessment of the waste quantity, for which there was pressure from the government to award the contract to the same company.
“However, at present, the contract has been given to another Punebased consortium of companies at just Rs 7.92 crore. The work, which was awarded last year, is making good progress now,” he said, adding that Zonta Infratech was given a termination letter in May last year. The minister’s reply in the assembly also said the same company had demanded advance payment, in violation of tender conditions, after being selected for bio-mining legacy waste at Kureepuzha yard of Kollam corporation, following which the award decision had to be called off. The corporation then went for a rebidding and the contract has been awarded to M/s Zigma Global Environ Solutions Pvt Ltd, Erode. He also said the work was in the final stages.
Sources in Kollam corporation said the council decided not to proceed with the contract with the company at least two years ago. Company authorities, meanwhile, said the company had ended the contracts with Kannur and Kollam corporations over the quantity of waste to be removed. “These cannot be termed as terminations; we had differences with them over the quantity of waste. We have experience and expertise of over nine years in waste management across the country. The company would not like to comment on the Brahmapuram issue now, as the matter is under consideration of the high court,” Zonta Global director Sreeju Nair said.