Succumbing to pressure from standing committee members and corporators, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) commissioner has decided to allot works up to Rs 2.5 lakh on nominations basis to labour contract cooperative societies.
The cooperative societies should be formed with SCs, STs, Vadderas and individuals belonging to weaker sections, who are unemployed or retrenched engineers belonging to these communities.
As per a circular issued by the commissioner, zonal commissioners can give works up to Rs one lakh worth to societies in ordinary circumstances and Rs 1.5 lakh in the event of any urgency. Similarly, the GHMC standing committee can give works up to Rs two lakh in normal conditions and Rs 2.5 lakh in emergency situations.
The GHMC has to reserve 15 per cent of total works for allotment on nomination basis to these societies. Corporators have been demanding GHMC commissioner Sameer Sharma to give instructions to the engineering wing to allot works up to Rs two lakh on nomination basis without following any tender process.
As of now, works up to Rs one lakh are being allotted on nomination basis. But the commissioner refused to increase limit during the council meetings. The issue of enhancing the limit of works on nomination basis was also raised at the standing committee meetings and GHMC council meetings.
The standing committee said each society should not get more than two works in a financial year. “As the standing committee passed a resolution to implement the GO issued by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department in 1989, a circular has been issued to that effect,” GHMC engineer-in-chief P.Panduranga rao said.
However, some officials have been misusing nomination facility, which has to be used in emergency situations, and awarding works worth over Rs one lakh on nomination by splitting them into smaller contracts.
In the last one year, the GHMC has given works worth nearly Rs 25 crore on nomination basis in the city. Of them, Rs 15 crore worth works were given on nomination basis in South Zone limits alone based on recommendations of corporators.
GHMC sources feared the corporators, armed with the new circular, might recommend works to societies and individuals of their choice and the contractors might compromise on quality of work.