Regd. No. MH/MR/South-160/2012-14 RNI Regn. No. 43675/1985 MUMBAI THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013 32 PAGES `3 Website: www.afternoondc.in
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Activist demands rollback, saying
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By A Staff Reporter
ven as the Public Works department of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has invited tenders for construction of dwelling units and infrastructure under the Basic Service for the poor (BSUP) Project, Thane-based social activist Dayanand Nene, who is also President of the Alert Citizen of Thane City has alleged that the entire transaction stinks of corruption and needs to be canceled immediately and a full fledged inquiry be set up in the entire tendering process of the TMC. According to Nene, “The notice inviting the tender indicated that the estimate of costs for the project was Rs. 26,81,5,000 only. The financial qualification of the tenderer was that for the previous 3 years period, commencing April 1, 2009 to March 31,2012, he should have completed similar works of construction of multi-storied buildings under the Slum Housing Project or its equivalent and the exposure of a single work should not be less than 30 percent of the costs put to tender. As the estimated cost of the tender was Rs. 26,81,15,000, it meant that any party that wished to bid must have completed, by March 31, 2012, a single work of at least Rs. 8,04,34,500 or 30 percent of the
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total. The thrust is on works ‘completed’ on that day and not ‘on- going works’. As per the tender procedure, all parties participating in the tender were required to submit two separate envelopes - one containing the details regarding technical qualifications and the other containing the financial bid. It was also required as per the procedure that the City Engineer of TMC will first open the technical bids in presence of all parties. If any bidder does not meet the technical criteria, then his bid is disqualified and a note will be recorded accordingly by the tender opening authority and the said bidder’s Envelope No. 2 will not be considered for further action. The financial bids of only those parties are opened those who pass the technical bid. On the issue of Joint Venture agreements (JV), as per clause no.10 of the Tender document, a JV agreement between parties is required to be registered with the Registrar of Firms, Maharashtra State, at the time of submission of the tender. The operative part in this is – being ‘reg-
istered’ before submission, with the Registrar of Firms and not ‘applied for’. Hence, it is absolutely imperative that the JV agreement must be registered before submission of the tender; else, such tenders should be disqualified. Nene further added, “Having stated the salient features, I shall now highlight the glaring irregularities by the TMC officials in following the laid down procedures and twisting rules, purportedly under political pressure, to accommodate parties who had failed the technical bids and later on conniving to pass the tender
of Rs. 8,88,26,400. The said certificate submitted by M/s AE Infra Projects on January 28, 2013 was for ongoing work, extended up to June 30, 2013 - and not for completed work. Hence, it seems strange that the Corporation gave a certificate that almost Rs 9 crore worth of work was completed by March 31, 2012, while for the balance Rs 2 crore an extension of 15 months was given to the party - i.e. up to June 30, 2013. Obviously the figures were doctored to keep the JV in qualification for this in their favour. tender. The TMC offi“The tender states that a bidder cials in charge should have completed similar works of the tender of construction of multi storied buildopening should ing under the Slum Housing project be held fully responsible and an- equivalent as like Slum Housing projswerable for this blatant favoritism. ects under cost effective technolo“A Joint Venture of M/s. AE Infra gies in the last 3 years - April 1, Projects Pvt. Ltd and M/s. NA Con- 2009 to March 31, 2012, and the struction were amongst the many magnitude of a single work should parties who bid for the project. In not be less than 30 percent of cost support of their technical bid, this JV put to tender. The Certificate submithad submitted a certificate January ted by M/s AE Infra Projects did not 28, 2013 from the Sangli-Miraj Kup- certify as such and hence on failing wad City Corporation, showing that to qualify on technical grounds, the by June 30, 2013 M/s AE Infra Proj- bid of M/s AE Infra Projects should ects Pvt Ltd ‘would be’ completing have been disqualified forthwith. projects of the required type and “Now, another reason to disqualify magnitude – the estimated costs of them was non-registration of their JV which would amount to Rs. agreement. Clause 10 of the Tender 11,10,33,000 only, and, as on Continued on pg 9 « March 31, 2012, they had done work
Should the government amend section 377? Azad Shrivastav | ADC
By Philip Varghese
H
A secret agent for the AAP! He used to display his broom to promote the AAP.
Disappointed: Members of the community pained by the judgement at Azad maidan.
ours after the Supreme Court upheld Section 377 and set aside the Delhi High Court ruling that decriminalized homosexuality on Wednesday, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community are disappointed with the judgement and is up in arms saying it will not end its fight for its rights. Legal experts and lawyers in the city had split reactions on the judgment. While some said that the judgment should be reviewed, others welcomed the judgment arguing that the government should make the necessary amendments in section 377 to make it acceptable to all. According to Mumbai-based advocate Virendra Sharma, who also practices on Human Rights law in the Supreme Court, “The section 377 was enacted by the British during their regime as it was against the
IPC SECTION 377-Unnatural offences. - Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. order of the Judeo-Christian belief. Initially, only anal sex was included in the section and later, oral sex was added. However, recently section 377 was used as a tool by the police to harass, torture, extort and blackmail homosexuals and prevented them from seeking legal protection from violence, for the fear that they would be themselves penalized for sodomy. So I think, there should be Continued on pg 9 «