BMC losing Rs 600 crore on street furniture deals…..Sudhir Suryavanshi
Corporators allege civic body signed contracts with seven firms without standing committee nod,allows them to earn ad revenue on the public facilities they install
Corporators allege civic body signed contracts with seven firms without standing committee nod,allows them to earn ad revenue on the public facilities they install
Corporators are smelling a rat in the arbitrary decision of the civic administration to sign an agreement with six private companies for designing and installing street furniture across the city.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will lose revenue of about Rs 600 crore revenue annually because of these contracts,which were sealed without the standing committees approval,corporators alleged.
The BMC plans to put up telephone booths,newspaper stands,spittoons,kiosks,benches,bollards and display boards on the Marine Drive promenade,Worli sea face and another public places.The plan includes maps giving directions to landmarks and toilets with automatic flushes.In return for installing these facilities,the companies providing these will be allowed to place advertisements on the installations.
Prabhakar Shinde,Sena corporator said this decision was in blatant violation of the BMC Act 1818 (92 D).Under this Act,any proposal or policy affecting revenues should be tabled before the BMCs standing committee.They did not even invite bids for this street furniture.The firms are likely to earn Rs 1,000 crore annually and the BMC will get only 10 per cent of this amount.It is a scam and the authorities should conduct an investigation into it.The BMC should not be deprived of its share, alleged Shinde,who raised this issue in the last standing committee meeting,seeking an explanation from the administration.It is serious issue and needs to be addressed in a timely manner.We,the elected representatives,cannot sit ideally while babus sell the city, he said.
Rahul Shewale,member of BMCs standing committee,said if tenders were floated in the open market for these facilities,the BMC would earn more revenue.Why should the BMC get only 10 per cent of the total We are providing the space and they only have to make a one-time investment.We have asked the administration to cancel the agreement with these companies and float a new tender, said Shewale.
The firms appointed include Clear Channel,Stour Out of Home Media,JC Decaux,Zenith Outdoors,Pioneer Publicity,Adlab Films and Lakshya Media.All of them are in joint ventures with foreign counterparts.
When contacted civic chief Swadhin Kshatraiya said he did not know about the issue.I will comment on it after I find out more, he said.