The civic administration has said that it can take action by levying a penalty but will resist blacklisting the contractors as it is more interested in ‘getting the work done.’

Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak said at a press conference on Friday, “Just because particular contractors have been found guilty of shoddy work doesn’t mean we blacklist them. We will take harsher steps as there is no provision to blacklist contractors.”

Phatak said blacklisting contractors would also imply hiring new ones. “A lot of time will be wasted in the process of appointing a new contractor. We are more interested in getting the work done instead of blacklisting the contractors,” he added.

Civic officials said that there are very few contractors in the city for carrying out the desilting work.

At times the same contractors have subsidiaries working in some other part of the city. “So even if we blacklist the contractor it is possible that he may be carrying the same type of work at another location. There have been instances of shoddy contractors changing the name of the company to get a fresh contract,” he said.

According to the Storm Water Drains department, there are five contractors in the city and eastern suburbs who have done shoddy work for last three years.

However, the civic administration has decided to give them one more chance. “If they do not complete the work satisfactorily this year strict action will be taken against them,” Phatak said.

This year alone a penalty of Rs 21,30,700 has been recovered from contractors working on the desilting of nullahs in the city for not deploying sufficient machinery, not removing the silt within 48 hours and not providing safety devices and equipment to the labourers.

The civic administration will be spending Rs 104 crore for the desilting of major and minor nullahs in the city.

Although, a third party auditor was supposed to be appointed to keep an eye on the contractors, the move was rejected by the standing committee citing wastage of money.

Fine collected
Rs 3,30,700from 10 contractors in city areas
Rs 2,60,000from eight contractors in eastern suburbs
Rs 15,40,000from eight contractors in western suburbs