MH-BMC-CIRCULAR

BMC officials face 50% salary cut if projects delayed
    Mumbai, Aug 22 (PTI) In a bid to ensure timely
completion of civic works, Brihamnumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) chief Praveen Pardeshi has recently issued a circular
asking the officials to get the projects done in time or else
be prepared to lose 50 per cent of their salary.
    Apart from the officials, the circular also warned
civic contractors that if they failed to meet the deadline,
they would also lose 20 per cent of the project cost.
    "Pardeshi issued the circular last week, in which he
asked the municipal officials engaged in supervising projects
to get the works done within the deadline or else they will
lose their salary by 50 per cent," a senior civic official
said on Thursday.
    "The contractors have also been warned that they would
lose 20 per cent of the project cost if they fail to meet the
deadline. The circular said the reasons cited by the officers
and contractors for not meeting the project deadlines are
unconvincing and very frivolous," he added.
    The circular issued by the civic chief would work as a
deterrent and motivate the officials, especially the engineers
to complete the projects within the deadlines, he said.
    The move has been welcomed by activists, who said it
would benefit everyone and help fix the responsibility.
    RTI activist Anil Galgali, who has exposed several
cases related to alleged corruption in the cash-rich BMC,
said, "The civic body spends over Rs 10,000 crore every year
on public works, but it has hardly met the deadline of any
project."
    "On the contrary, the projects are deliberately
delayed to escalate its cost. This happens due to unholy nexus
between engineers and contractors. Hope this initiative to cut
salary would work and break the nexus," he said. PTI APM
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from a PTI feed.)