CORPORATORS WILL NOW HAVE TO UNDERGO AGNI-PARIKSHAS

Have you always wanted to know if your corporator is an honest man? Do yo suspect that BMC officials are pocketing funds meant to be spent on your drains and roads? A project undertaken by AGNI may just be able to tell you all this and more.

AGNI is looking for engineers, who will help the NGO assess some of the projects funded by corporators. The reason? AGNI wants to know how much money the corporators spend on funding civic projects, and what proportion of the fund is pocketed by engineers and officials.

AGNI will study civic projects undertaken between 2001 and 2004. It has already acquired details about the projects like work order, money spent, etc from the BMC using Right to Information.

Says Laxmidas Thakkar, AGNI Coordinator for 'T' Ward, "This is a project we have started across the city. Our aim is to see what percentage of the corporator fund is actually going into civic projects." He adds, "The popular notion is that less than 50 percent of the money sanctioned for projects is actually put in the right place. The rest of the money is pocketed by engineers, officials, politicians and corporators. We are trying to find out how far is this true."

AGNI is inviting engineering students and retired engineers to assist them on the project. "The study needs technical knowledge. We are asking final year engineering students to help us. We are also approaching retired engineers," says Thakkar, adding, "We will assess one or two projects per ward."

AGNI is not conducting the study for any legal purposes. "We do not plan to take BMC to court. In the future, we can keep a check on the projects by the BMC," says Thakkar.

STORM WATER DRAIN REPAIR WORK ALONG SN ROAD
Period: 2001 - 02
Amount: Rs. 6 lakh (five work orders)
Corporatorspeak: "I am not happy with the quality of work. The engineers and contractors are arrogant. At times, they don't even give the details of the work. If we complained to the higher authorities, work gets stopped." - Meenakshi Patil

GATE TO RESTRICT THE ENTRY OF HEAVY VEHICLES ON VEENA NAGAR BRIDGE
Period: Sept 2001
Amount: Rs. 44.429
Corporatorspeak: "The project was completed several months ago. I don't remember how much money was spent on the project. Whenever I fund a project, I inspect the site and make sure that the work is not sub-standard." - R. R. Singh

REPAIRING THE DRAINS ALONG ZAVER ROAD AND GG ROAD
Period: Sept 2001
Amount: Rs. 7 lakh (five work orders)
Corporatorspeak: "I don't remember the work you are referring to or the expenditure. However, I always go to the site of the project and inspect the works and I am satisfied with the work the contractors do." - Harshad Desai

CONSTRUCTION OF A PLATFORM FOR DUSTBINS AT GOSHALA ROAD
Period: Oct 2003
Amount: Rs. 98,000
Corporatorspeak: "I am satisfied with the work done by the engineers and the contractors. I have no problem if AGNI cross-checks the project details. In fact, it will help dispel false notions about the corruption among the BMC officials and corporators." - Parashuram Mirekar

CONSTRUCTION OF FOOTPATH RAILING ON MP ROAD
Period: Oct 2003
Amount: Rs. 2.94 lakh
Corporatorspeak: "I am satisfied with the work done. The contractor and the engineers have done a good job. It is interesting to learn that an NGO is doing such a study." - Prabhakar Shinde

NANA NANI PARK NEAR SAMBAJI UDYAN
Period: Jan 2002
Amount: Rs. 6.53 lakh
Corporatorspeak: "I agree that work done for Nana Nani park was not too good. Even I am not too happy with the work. I have raised the matter several times in the ward committee meetings. The contractor did a very bad job and the engineers let that pass. Often, the views of the corporators are over-looked. It's good that AGNI will look into this." - Nandkumar Vaity

PASSAGE BETWEEN VEENA NAGAR BRIDGE AND ST. GEORGE SCHOOL
Period: Oct 2003
Amount: Rs. 1.56 lakh
Corporatorspeak: "The details of the project and the expenses are fixed by engineers. The problem is that the contractors are employed for a three-year term. No action is taken against them even if we lodge a complaint. They have godfathers at senior positions. I think a contractor should be appointed for individual projects. As regards my project, even I was not happy with the quality of work. In fact, I had also lodged a complaint about it." - Hemlata Sukale

NGO has the right to conduct the study: BMC
Says Suhas Karvande, ward officer, T-ward, "The NGO has all the right to conduct the study. Even I would be interested in their finding. However, I am not sure if AGNI will be able to get the study done professionally. Also, it is a little too late to study projects undertaken three years ago."

It'll be a learning experience: engineering students
Sagar Desarda - "When we are offered such projects, we take it up as it gives us practical working knowledge."

Rachi Visaria - "It'll be a great experience as we'll be working on government projects."

Kunal Parikh - "It'll give us the exposure of working on a site."

A CONTRACTOR SAYS LESS THAN 50 PER CENT OF MONEY GOES INTO PROJECTS

A CONTRACTOR, who takes road contracts from BMC, says less than 50 per cent of the corporator's funds actually goes into the project announced. "Most of the money is spent in bribing all and sundry. Both politicians and officials get their share. We then have no choice but to do poor quality work," he says.

Meanwhile, when asked, both the BMC and the engineers say that the other is responsible for pocketing the money.

Engineers, contractors pocket money, alleges BMC
Says Suresh Shine, ward committee president, "It is good that AGNI wants to keep a tab on the way corporators spend their funds. It's true that not all the money actually goes into the project. I cannot say how much is pocketed by the middlemen. All I can say is that the corporators do not keep the money, it is normally split between the engineers and the officials, who demand their commission."

Politicians keep the booty, counter engineers
An engineer says on condition of anonymity, "If corporators claim that engineers pocket a certain percentage of money, why are they allowing it to happen? They should stall the work. The reality is that a good share, approximately 30 per cent of the bill amount, goes to politicians. Only 10 per cent is distributed among the officials."

Stopping work is impossible counters BMC
Says Shine, "It's the engineer who prepares the work order and estimates for a project. It's the engineer who chooses the contractor. After completion, the project is certified by the engineer. If we stop the work on corruption grounds, no project will ever see completion. The only solace we have is that we get the credit for getting the work done and that translates into votes."

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