[www.keralites.net] Beneath the road scam!

 

Beneath the road scam AJIT RANADE       ON THE WHEELS THAT MAKE MUMBAI RUN ­ MONEY AND ECONOMY Leave aside crooked contractors, would an honest one be able to survive the demand for kickbacks? There is an unfolding crime thriller, litera lly playing out on the streets of Mumbai. The thriller has many ups and downs, and is guaranteed to give you a bumpy ride. There are no plot holes in this saga, only potholes. Mumbai's streets, roads, highways and even flyovers have become a lunar landscape.This is the crime scene, since it represents a massive heist from the treasury of India's richest municipality. Who are these thieves and how much did they steal? The BMC spends around Rs 2,500 crore annually on road repairs and construction. If some of this results in shoddy roads or repairs that get washed away with the first rains, then this is money stolen from taxpayers. Potholes are nothing new for the stoic Mumbaikar. It happens every year. Come rains, gaping holes open up on Mumbai's roads, waiting to swallow vehicles, pedestrians, whatever. But this year was the limit.And the citizens were finally up in arms. The newspapers too ran strident campaigns. So the BMC Commissioner ordered an inquiry into what's now called the road scam. His estimate so far shows a loss of only Rs 14 crore. That's surely a gross underestimate. Think of the cost to society of huge traffic delays and petrol burnt. Think of the cost of back sprain and neck injuries. Think of the tragic loss of lives, as scooter riders suffered fatal head injuries or were run over by a dumpster.The loss due to bad roads is immense. Back to the crime story. The police swung into action, and so far 26 people are already in jail.Three of these are senior engineers of the BMC who find themselves among hardened criminals in Arthur Road jail. Others are quality auditors, whose job was to certify that the road repair was properly done as per specs. Of course many contractors are also in the locker. Half a dozen large firms have been blacklisted and will not get any new contracts from the BMC. The contractors may say that they did their best but heavy monsoon destroyed their work. It is really beyond their control, since budgets are very tight. In that case, are they blameless? So who really are the guilty? Will those in jail go scot-free after the trial? Let's look beneath the surface. BMC awards contracts to the lowest bidder (after technical qualification). The bids are presumably web-based or electronic, so bid rigging is not possible. Nor is any collusion or cartel possible. The winning contractor then has to deliver quality work within the tight budget. What if he is required to give a cut as a kickback? What if he is threatened that payments will be delayed? What if auditors threaten to raise all kinds of objections unless they too get a cut? Then the whole repair project has to be completed in a smaller budget to make room for side payments. Naturally the contractor will cut corners, use shoddy material. This is not to deny that he himself may be crooked to begin with. But even if we start with an honest contractor, the systemic corruption can end up squeezing money out of his contract. And because of this systemic problem, honest contractors may be discouraged from participating in tenders in the first place. Self-fulfilling prophecy. What is the solution? If we can prevent bid rigging via electronic means, why can't we prevent corruption of kickbacks? Can we not tailor contracts so that he keeps some profits in case the quality is really good? Sort of like paying a salesman extra bonus above his salary in case he exceeds the sales target. Another way of structuring his contract is to ask for a warranty period. And make balance payment only next year, after one full monsoon has passed. Unfortunately whichever way you tighten screws on contracts, the leakage remains. There is no alternative to vigilant citizenship, and electing non-corrupt, cleaner candidates to the municipality. So some of the blame comes back to you and me.

 

 

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Posted by: Cool Kis <cooolkis@gmail.com>

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