NMMC standing committee approves fill-gap encroachment tender, issues recommendations for revamping anti-encroachment department

The weekly Standing Committee of NMMC approved the proposal of giving the contract of supplying equipments for anti – encroachment drives of NMMC to CIDCO authorized contractor P P Bhalerao Civil Engineer and Contractor. The contractor has been appointed only to fill the gap period till the fresh tender process is completed. During the discussion of this tender bid, members made some very significant suggestions for the fresh tender to ensure that Bhise like scams do not happen again.
Have an independent NMMC team from the level of an officer at the ward office, to three zonal level officers and one Dy. Municipal Commissioner to head the team of NMMC’s anti-encroachment department, cross verify every anti-encroachment drive conducted by department at the ward committee level, buy the equipments required for the carrying out anti-encroachment drive instead of renting it from the contractor, maintain period check of encroachment in the city through satellite mapping and ward office records, train official to use software like SAP for checking chalans and clearing bills – these were some of the most significant suggestions that the Standing Committee made to the administration in this week’s meeting. The Standing Committee Chairman Sandeep Naik instructed the administration to incorporate these suggestions before floating the fresh tender for encroachment post the multi-Crore H B Bhise scam. The discussion came up when the members approved the contract of supplying equipments for anti – encroachment drives of NMMC to contractor P P Bhalerao Civil Engineer and Contractor. P P Bhalerao is the CIDCO authorized contractor. He has been appointed only to fill the gap period till the fresh tender process for encroachment is completed. Namdeo Bhagat pointed out that making one DMC in-charge of many departments was the root cause of the Bhise scam.
Earlier Shivram Patil gave the reference of a message on the Bhise scam doing rounds that has put NMMC to embarrassment. Standing Committee Chairman Sandeep Naik informed us that the root cause of the Bhise scam was total system failure of the administration. The Chairman also informed that the members have given administration suggestions that will not just make NMMC’s encroachment drive transparent but will also check Bhise like scams. Even though the suggestions are welcome, almost all contractors in NMMC are proxy of contractors. Most of the relatives and kin of corporators take NMMC contracts. So it will not come as a surprise if the suggestions made by members are not implemented by the administration.