Contractors' shoddy job on pumping stations is putting Mumbai at risk

If therersquos a recurrence of the great deluge mdash aka the 267 Mumbai floods mdash you should know that some sly contractors under the tutelage of politicians and bureaucrats have done all within their power to drown youLovegrove pumping station at Dr Annie Besant Road Worli PicSayyed Sameer AbediA midday investigation has revealed that while a consortium of contractors is getting a free hand in building shoddy storm water pumping stations mdash Mumbairsquos vital defences against flash floods mdash the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has acted against the negligence with at least one hand tied behind its back It is these entities that should be held responsible for constructing a secondrate flood defence despite the government spending crores on calamity control since 2005Documents accessed by midday under the Right To Information RTI Act expose poor planning design and construction of the two crucial stations at Lovegrove and Cleveland Bunder commissioned in 2011Their construction and execution have countless anomalies At times the contractor used substandard material often sourced from unlisted suppliers and violated many tender conditions not only causing the civic exchequer losses but also putting lives at riskFor all the norms it flouted the consortium Ms UnityMampPWPK drew inconsistent bills on the corporation manipulated progress reports and site diaries mdash which underscore lack of safety measures at the site leading to several landslides mdash and deployed inadequate manpower and material for nearly three years since the projects commencedDespite all this the consortium has not been blacklisted even as the BMC twice came close to filing an FIR against the group this yearThe FIR threat was first issued earlier this year to the consortium for failing to remove a cofferdam mdash a temporary enclosure built in a water body to allow for a dry work environment mdash at Lovegrove which nearly caused flooding during the monsoonAn application to file FIR was submitted in May by the civic executive engineer storm water drains or SWD department directing criminal action against managing director of Unity Infrastructure Kishor Avarsekar vicechairman Abhijit Avarsekar and project manager Nitin ParmaneBut the draft was put in abeyance even as a defiant contractor did not fully remove the coffer causing waterlogging in several crowded localities of Central MumbaiThe second FIR threat came with a notice served on June 19 for recovery of liquidity damages LD amounting to R19 crore The LD mdash 20 of the total project cost of R116 crore mdash appeared to be a huge liability on a consortium claiming to be running lossesldquoYou did not complete the project before May 2014 In case of flooding in six major spots in this catchment BMC is constraint sic to lodge an FIR for damages to public property and inconvenience to citizens These damages will be recovered from your other projects and no future projects would be awarded to yourdquo reads the noticeHowever BMC did not bother to check that its contract with Unity had no provision for LD recovery the second FIR was also never filed Meanwhile waterlogging was reported from catchment areas in Maulana Azad Road Keshav Rao Khade Marg Dadasaheb Bhadkamkar Marg Anandrao Nair Marg Patthe Bapurao Marg and Sane Guruji RoadLovegrove pumping station was commissioned in November 2011 at a cost of R11685 croreBMC turns a blind eyeSo far the BMC has maintained the public line that the two projects were getting delayed due to land and rehabilitation issues while the consortium blamed its purported financial mess The facts however tell a different story the utter negligence by the consortium led by Unity a company which was under the scanner for dragging road works at a criminally slow pace in Nagpur last year poor construction during the 2008 Pune Commonwealth Youth Games and construction of Cooper Hospital with cost escalation of nearly R76 crore due to a delay of more than one and a half yearsThe messups did not deter the BMC from approving mobilisation advances to the consortium It even cleared bills that showed inconsistencies The consortium held back bank guarantees or BGs which work as safety deposits and can be seized to recover losses in case the contractor fails to perform for 16 months meanwhile payments were released by BMC to consultants Ms MWH even before the work on site startedCase in point The first running account bill in the Lovegrove project mdash of R16775160 mdash was held back by BMC because there were serious questions surrounding the contractorrsquos claims But it was later passed on December 26 2012 without any site measurement sheets mdash documents detailing how much work has been done mdash to substantiate expense claims The first bill for MWH of R97 lakh for the first quarter in 2012 was released by the BMC before the construction had even started These points were marked out by auditors in several reportsWhen the consortium did submit BGs they were from a bank not notified in the contract condition ldquoFor 16 months you did not submit BGs which shows you are not serious in completing the workrdquo reads an internal audit note that took serious note of these anomaliesldquoWe have booked companies for failing to submit BGs but this contractor was allowed to get away for a long time as nobody wanted to hold him accountable for nonperformancerdquo said a senior IPS officer working in the Maharashtra AntiCorruption Bureau Fudged records The R21864crore pumping projects were awarded to the Unityled consortium in November 2011 on 8704 sq m of land at Worli The stations expected to cover cityrsquos biggest drain catchment 865 hectares with 30 flooding spots were expected to be completed in 15 months but got a generous deadline extension on October 5 2013 and again on May 14 2014Their current status 47 completion at Lovegrove and less than 15 at Cleveland As things stand it looks unlikely they will meet the new deadline in December 2014From day one the planning of the project was inadequate so much so that BMC had to call for 19 review meetings between 2013 and 2014 to take stock of progress even as it had appointed private consultant MWH to monitor the workBut the consortium kept giving new dates without taking any concrete action with BMC serving six showcause notices in 2014 alone February 10 February 20 March 4 April 4 and 11 and 15 Two visits and notices by the municipal commissioner in December 2013 and March 2014 too did not make any difference The overall progress of the projects remained at 3905 as on March 2014 lagging behind by 3464 days and merited a penalty of R19 lakh for various violations in Lovegrove alone Several crucial engineering designs mdash as many as 85 mdash were not submitted for BMCrsquos approval in this phase which means work was often done without civic supervision or mandateThis was noted in various reports and in fact the first bricks of Lovegrove compound walls were laid without BMCrsquos approval of the plans An internal report noted that contractors started the hazardous work of lsquoexcavation in pump house arearsquo on December 1 2011 without submission of basic drawings and details of the site ldquoIt was as if the civic officials had abdicated their responsibilities while they blindly left supervision work to a private consultant This has been the undoing of these projects as work was never carried out in a homogeneous mannerrdquo said Ratna Mahale corporator from Worli Police CampSeveral instances of fudging of records were noticed in the documents Worse the deadline of the project was at one point theoretically moved down by the contractor by four months without informing BMC from June 2013 to October 2013 ldquoThis is not proper and we have informed the consortium about it but they havenrsquot made the changes yetrdquo noted an internal note Other manipulations in the documents continued unabated in December the overall progress at Lovegrove was reported to be 1086 by the consultants even as the BMC pegged it at 745Until March 2012 the contractor had not submitted the correct work schedule complete drawings hydraulic designs and study details The same year they did not carry out work for three months BMC noted that despite removal of hutments at Cleveland and the handing over of the site the contractor did not submit a layout drawing and staff was not appointed by March 2012 ldquoIf they donrsquot improve performance in the next one month action like termination of contract or blacklisting must be initiatedrdquo said a departmental reportThe contractor did not do the work for timely import of pumps from Korea The consortium promised to supply pumps of Korean make in May 2013 but the manufacturer informed that Unity consortium did not submit the necessary Letter of Credit and so pumps were not dispatched Therefore even by April 2014 the pumps hadnrsquot arrived in Mumbai ldquoA general date was given of June 2014 but that seems to be a vague statementrdquo said additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas in a meeting It did not even conduct performance testing of six pumps at Haji Ali which had an effect on other pumps as they were to be accepted on the basis of the performance of the former Once again the BMC threatened to blacklist the contractor Lowquality materialAn internal SWD report in 2012 noted that the civil structure at Lovegrove was developing cracks at various places and at bottom beds and resulting in leakage of water during high tideWhen a vigilance team visited the site on April 21 and May 5 2014 it found glaring anomalies at Lovegrove The team conducted fresh tests It was also found that the contractor purposely did not keep records of silt register or records related to site testing laboratory was carrying out foundation work with unsoaked bricks indulging in poor masonry and column foundation and using Kota stone tiles of subpar qualityThe team noticed cracks in the DG diesel generator house staircase damaged edges of chhajja and poor brick masonry due to which the plaster was not bonding A penalty of R2085 lakh was slapped for lapses Auditors established that the Lovegrove work was lagging behind by a shocking 1558 days as on April 2014Throughout 2012 various material tests found that the crush sand being used was failing in sieve analysis tests The site diaries when checked by midday mentioned in May 2013 that during reinforcement of the DG house a deep vertical cut of 10 metres was noticed for over two months The diaries also mentioned frequent deviation from approved plans it was observed that repair of Atria mallrsquos compound wall and construction of Miter gate was not according to approved methodsrdquo noted a vigilance report of April 2013During the same period Corporator Ratna Mahale wrote to the chief engineer of the SWD department raising serious questions about the quality of materials being used by the contractor ldquoThe quality of the material used at Lovegrove station is way too cheap and this material is not of standard quality thus it appears that this work will not be strong enough for future I request you to stop this work immediately and take actionrdquo the letter written in May 2013 statesBut Mahale was told that the quality was checked as per tender specificationsWhen Mahale visited the spot she found that not only was the material poor in quality even support pillars were constructed in a hazardous manner compromising safetyldquoIf anything goes wrong in this project many people must be held responsible including BMC officials who did not supervise the work and gave this contractor a free hand to mess up the projectrdquo she told midday Faulty design After almost one and a half years over 80 designs drawings and performance charts had not been submitted by Unity and many of those submitted were of poor quality having a cascading effect on the quality of construction internal reports notedThe contractor did not even submit a performance bar chart for two years claiming delays in working out technicalities However documents show that these mechanics had already been mentioned in the tender document signed in 2011 between BMC and the consortiumAn internal note of the SWD department in June read ldquoCivil and mechanical drawings of Lovegrove and Cleveland were lacking even the basic engineering standards several of them had to be rejected summarily leading to major delays on part of the contractorrdquoThe consortium frequently toyed with the performance chart which is crucial in mapping progressMeanwhile the consultant MWH stopped going to the site Several internal reports pointed out how progress reports were submitted to BMC without the consultant staffrsquos actually visiting the siteDubious vendors The consortium continued sourcing material from vendors with no proper credentials or background some did not exist on the list approved by the corporation This made quality control nearly impossible for BMC and MWHAccording to documents the consortium failed to get timely approval for a total of 31 vendors or subcontractor some of whom were picked based on dodgy paperwork and permission of BMC In January 2013 the consortium submitted a list of vendors but no technical details were provided for BMC to do a scrutinyThe contractor sublet another work to vendor SterlingWilson for supplying DG set and panels It turned out the vendor did not have adequate financial credentials but the consortium kept insisting even as Sterlingrsquos balance sheet showed losses when assessed by the BMC ldquoThere was a rampant practice of getting the approval first and requesting a change of vendor later This hampered the progress of workrdquo reads an internal report from July 2013 The specific instances where vendor changes were demanded were for DG set and panels and crane works Safety lapsesThe internal reports obtained by midday highlight the contractorrsquos disregard for safety measures so much that at various stages lives of labour and citizens in the vicinity of the project were at risk Over the course of work since 2012 the project witnessed two major landslides causing loss of property At other times there was flooding inside the pump stationsA departmental report from this year noted that the contractor did not deploy any safety measures at the two stations for the past two years The first signs of this apathy were seen on March 9 2013 when the compound wall behind Atria mall collapsed due to excavation work carried out by the contractor This also damaged a nineinch sewer line and waterline to the nearby Royal Garden Society municipal schools and municipal staff quarters for three weeksElectricity supply to the mall was imperiled as cracks and disturbances were found in the foundation of the transformer and DG set in the basement But this did not bother the contractorThe collapse was the responsibility of the contractor as documents show BMC as well as the mall management had sent warnings in advance The mallrsquos warning came two months in advance on January 4 ldquoThe wall of our premises has developed major cracks and is also damaging the transformer and breaker Please find a solution or until then donrsquot carry out work in our premises or you will be responsible for any deaths and damagesrdquo a letter from the management readsOn March 7 2013 the BMC wrote a warning note asking the contractor to take precautions to lsquoprotect the foundations of the adjoining Atria mall and give proper slope to the adjoining earth to avoid any slidingrsquoAfter all these tragic lapses a mere fine of R25000 was imposed on the contractor for not putting in place postdisaster measuresldquoThe consortium failed to take safety measures like backfilling by gunny bags and also has not submitted any plans of repairing the collapsed wall water line or construction work for reinstatementrdquo read a BMC notice of March 20 Later a team of safety experts blamed Unity for putting several lives in dangerldquoDespite repeated warnings the contractor did not carry out work with proper planning and due care for safety of the work location The collapse damaged the pavement in mall dangerously risking transformer and junction box of mall while these cracks continue to widen nothing was donerdquo reads another report from the same yearThese were not the only warnings Many more cautionary notes were delivered at the contractorsrsquo doorstep for causing floodlike situations and creating a bottleneck in the catchment of Lovegrove for two years But these did little to avoid the flood situationA civic site inspection report of April 30 2012 noticed that due to construction activities in the main course of nullah bottlenecks and obstructions had formed causing rising of water levels upstream of both the nullahs and if such a situation persisted at Lovegrove there would be flooding in the island city this monsoonIn 2014 Saurin Patel managing director of Michigan Engineers a firm that widened the drains on E Moses Road and Racecourse warned civic officials that they would not work at full capacity in the last monsoon and that outfalls at Worli were so badly silted that the drains were emptying at a lower level than the outfall leading to reverse flow in the drain ldquoWe fear that during monsoon these drains will not be able to serve the city to their designed capacity The city must immediately take steps to desilt the outfall with great scrutinyrdquo Patel said in a letterIn further abandon the contractor refused to remove a concrete cofferdam in 2012 and then again in 2014 The dam obstructed the nullah flow waterlogging many lanes It led to a floodlike situation in Central Mumbai but despite FIR threats from BMC the contractor did not fully remove the dam Both the warnings were served in the April of 2012 and 2014 but to no availAn application to file an FIR was drafted in 2014 It said that while the coffer was necessary during construction it should have been removed every May But the contractor did not do so causing possibility of flooding and loss of human lives ldquoWhile the contractor had started the work of removal it cannot be completed before monsoon Since they have failed a sanction is sought to lodge an FIR against their staffrdquo reads a draft The shoddy work caused damage to roads pollution rash driving and even theft on site due to lack of security ldquoThe debris is lying all over causing air pollution and health hazards to the people around and large unruly vehicles are putting lives at dangerrdquoUnity infrastructure under scanner1 Unity Infra faced flak for a road project in Nagpur where by Aug 2014 it had completed only 45 km of the total 2593 km of work for which the deadline was June 2013 The Nagpur Municipal Corporation NMC slapped a penalty of R65 crore but an arbitrator reversed the decision and instead asked the NMC to pay R8 crore in compensation ensuring a R50 crore setback to the civic exchequer The opposition called it one of the biggest scams in NMCrsquos history2 During the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune a performance audit report raised questions on the tendering process for construction of 2 new hostels and a threestar hotel inside the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Balewadi The audit found lsquoserious deficiencies with regard to the construction of the hotelrsquo Furthermore the tendering process for the hotel was found lsquoseverely flawedrsquo as conditions were relaxed lsquopurportedly on grounds of lack of responsersquo to deter other bidders The audit noted ldquoThe contract was awarded on a single financial bid to Unity Infra Projects with NPV far below that recommended by the Finance Department Further the developer paid only the first installment of the annual premium and no penal action has been taken against itrdquo 3 Cooper Hospital Mumbai was slated for completion in 2011 with an initial budget of R250 crore But it was completed in 2014 at an escalated cost of R3256 crUnity Infra backgroundUnity was started by BMC engineer Kishore Avarsekar in 1997 and thanks to political aegis rose to mercurial heights in just a few years Avarsekarrsquos proximity to saffron parties ensured his rise once the Shiv SenaBJP govt came to power in Maharashtra in 1999 ldquoAt one point in the 1990s the company alone was handling R3000 crore worth of projects from Mumbai cityrdquo said an observer in the BMC The promoters were however involved in infrastructure through Unity Construction Company which had been in existence since 1979 In 1983 Avarsekar was admitted as a partner in this firm and his sons Abhijit and Ashish and wife Pushpa were all enrolled in the firmThe firm took on big projects starting with Abhyudaya bank building Vashi 1983 and Wainganga highrise Worli 1985 It also bagged R14782crore public works from the Centre for remodelling Dhyan Chand Stadium for CWG 2010 and a R77crore tender from Thane Municipal Corporation In 2009 it got an order of R32523crore worth of projects from MCGMThe other sideAsked for an explanation about the delay in the works Unity Infrastructure stated in its letter to the BMC ldquoOur company has a proven track record of successfully completing all the prestigious projects assigned to us in the past we nearly completed the Cooper hospital project in a short period of time despite the fact that dues amounting to R20 crore are held up The work and quality of construction was appreciated by all including Uddhav Thackeray at the time of inauguration on November 30 2013 However at present we are facing serious financial constraints and you know the company has to go for a Corporate Debt Restructuring CDR and the process of CDR by RBI may take another two monthsrsquo time We are not able to get institutional finance until the CDR process is over We are getting support from various government organisations by way of special advance against bank guarantee for our ongoing projects the intervening period until our CDR is cleared For the BMC pumping station projects instead of getting financial support our problems are compounded as substantial payment is held up by the corporation on various grounds Our dues amounting to R5263 crore and further compensation for delay for R46 crore have been leviedThe progress of work in these projects is suffering badly for want of funds The progress is affected by lack of payment and on top of that a penalty for delay is creating a vicious cycle for us These levies of penalties and other deductions account now for almost 65 of the bill value and we are left with only 35 of the amount for ourselves Under these circumstances it is impossible to execute this work and we are in urgent need of your help to come out of this problem and complete the project expeditiouslyrdquoA week ago we sent a questionnaire concerning the construction discrepancies and related matters to Unity Infrastructure but the firmrsquos management hasnrsquot yet respondedCleveland Bunder pumping stationThis is the secondlargest catchment of Mumbai has Dadar on its north and Worli on its south and itrsquos the mud flats between the islands of Bombay This is also the most flooded area in Mumbai and affects the arterial Dadar railway stationName of contractor Unity InfrastructureTime period 15 months excluding monsoonWork Awarded 29092011Cost of the project R10236 croreArea 4400 sq mCatchment area 465 hectaresDrain network 3792 mRequired pumping 42 cubic metresecRequired pumps 7 with 6000 litressec eachAreas affected by floods Dadar Market Dadar railway station Bhavani Shankar Road Fitwala Lane Sun Mill Lane Pandurang Budhkar Marg Senapati Bapat Road Elphinstone Road Drainage Channel Road N M Joshi Marg Shankarrao Naram Path Shiv Ram Amrutwar Path Dadasaheb Phalke Marg Sanapati Bapat Road Gokhale Road Junction and Kamgar Nagar JunctionLovegrove pumping stationName of contractor Unity InfrastructureTime period 15 months excluding rainsWork awarded 23112011Cost of the project R11685 croreArea 4305 sq mCatchment area 400 hectare Required pumping 42 cubic metresecRequired pumps 5 with 6000 litressec eachHow a pumping station works The stations have three main functions tidal control gravity discharge and pumping of storm water During low tide the tidal gates are opened to drain out storm water into the sea by gravity and during high tide the gates are closed to prevent back entry of seawater Now during high tide when the gates are closed and when it is raining the pumps are operated Water in the inlet channel is maintained at a certain level to make sure that the inlet can receive storm water and discharge it by pumping even during a high tide combined with rains