Blacklisted in 2016, Mumbai firm set to bag Rs 1,566 crore CC road contracts
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has awarded a new contract to RPS InfraProjects, a firm previously blacklisted for poor road works. The company was banned following its involvement in the 2016 road scam but has now been chosen for phase 2 of the Rs 6,000-crore cement concrete (CC) road projects in Mumbai.
RPS InfraProjects was blacklisted for seven years after an FIR was registered against it, and two of its directors were arrested. However, the company stated that the ban was later reduced to three years, and a speaking order issued in October 2019 modified the blacklisting. The joint venture involving RPS InfraProjects was directed to carry out repairs on roads under inquiry, and the blacklisting period lapsed in 2019. Since then, the firm has executed various road projects for BMC.
Despite the company's controversial history, BMC floated phase 2 tenders for CC road works in January. RPS InfraProjects emerged as the lowest bidder, making it eligible for the Rs 1,566-crore projects in the western suburbs.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray questioned the decision to award the contract to a previously blacklisted company. In a letter to Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, Thackeray demanded that the phase 2 tenders be scrapped to avoid potential taint. He also called for a probe against officials who allegedly colluded with the company. Thackeray warned that if the MVA forms the government after the assembly elections, it would scrap the new contracts and halt payments to all contractors.
Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh alleged that the roads under investigation in the 2016 case were counted towards the company's experience when BMC considered its qualifications for the new tenders. RPS InfraProjects denied this claim.
The company also defended its involvement in repairs on the Himalaya foot overbridge (FOB) at CSMT in 2013, which collapsed six years later, causing several fatalities. RPS InfraProjects stated that it conducted small repairs in 2013, with the warranty expiring in 2014, and the collapsed section was not the one they worked on. BMC issued a show-cause notice to RPS Infra in 2019, but after replying, the issue was closed, and RPS Infra was declared not guilty.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
