Thrashing all concerns regarding a politician's firm being able to ensure quality of work, a firm owned by Abu Asim Azmi, MLA and state president of Samajwadi Party, has been awarded the Rs 174 crore contract to pick up garbage from the streets of Bandra (E) to Jogeshwari (E) and Vile Parle to Jogeshwari on the western side for four years.
The BMC’s standing committee yesterday gave the nod to the politician’s firm to collect and dispose garbage. While the civic body estimated Rs 174 crore for the work, a joint venture of MK Enterprises, Global Waste Management Cell Pvt Ltd and Gulf Hotel quoted Rs 168 crore for the task, the lowest bid among the three contractors. Abu Azmi owns the firm Gulf Hotel. The final approval will be taken after the proposal is tabled at a General Body meeting scheduled in the next 10 days.u00a0
MiD DAY reported on January 1, 2013 about the bid made by the MLA’s firm in its article (‘Abu Azmi’s bid for Rs 174-cr BMC contract slammed’), wherein it highlighted the conflict of interests. u00a0Except the MNS, no other party opposed the proposal. Dilip Lande, MNS leader and standing committee member, objected to the proposal saying, “If the BMC does not allow corporators to participate in the bidding process, then they should also ban other political leaders from doing so. No elected representative, whether MLA or MP, should be allowed to take part in any BMC tendering process.”u00a0
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The civic administration, however, expressed its inability to reject the contract. “We approached the legal department, but as per their opinion, the BMC cannot stop anyone from taking part in the bidding just because the firm is owned by an MLA.” u00a0
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