The streetlight project failed to take off even after 3 years of its sanction Three years after a multi crore LED streetlight project in Nashik failed to take off, the city’s Mayor Ashok Murtadak ordered a formal inquiry into the delay.
In official circles, the project has already become known as the “biggest scam” in the history of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), exceeding Rs. 200 crore Committee’s nod In January 2013, the Standing Committee of the NMC, comprising corporators from top political parties, approved a proposal to install LED bulbs, made by MIC Electronics, in 69,541 streetlights across the city.
131 crore, on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis. It later swelled to over Rs. 200 crore, with the approval of the NMC.
In September 2014, a year-and-a-half later, the NMC standing committee complained that the decision to purchase LED lights through a tender had not been taken by the General Body Meeting, a violation of the law, and alleged negligence by company officials and the NMC in starting the work, and demanded that the contract be rescinded.
Following objections raised by senior Congress leader Jayprakash Chhajed on the dubious procedure of awarding tenders in the LED project, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had stayed the proposal.
By EB Bureau
