Mechanised sweeping at 13 villages, Mani Majra likely soon

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, December 2

After the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s intervention, the city Municipal Corporation has considered the successful bid of a joint venture company for the geographic information system (GIS)-based mechanised and manual sweeping project in Mani Majra and 13 villages.

After months of tendering process, the lowest bid was finally received from a joint venture company and subsequently, it was given the letter of intent by the MC. However, the bid was later rejected for not giving the bank guarantee as joint venture bidder. The bidder had moved the court.

The court had stated that the correction should have been done before cancelling the contract of the petitioner, and instead of cancelling the contract, the bidder should have been asked to give the bank guarantee under the joint venture.

Acting on the court’s order, the MC has now shot off a letter to Bhumika and Pragati firms granting them a period of three weeks to give the bank guarantee and other relevant documents in the name of their joint venture. The civic body said if the firm failed to do so, it would be presumed that it was not interested in the tender.

Long wait for project

The tendering process for the project took almost a year to be complete. The Municipal Corporation House had passed the agenda in November last year.

With the court’s intervention, it seems the much-needed cleanliness work would start in the villages soon.

Cleanliness work in the southern sectors of the city, i.e. from Sector 31 to 63, including villages and slums, has already been outsourced to an agency and is being carried out with machines.

The work comprises sweeping, collection and transportation of solid waste from bins in a segregated manner, cleaning and washing of bins, washing of road berms, removal of vegetation/grass cutting on roadsides/berms, the removal of construction and demolition waste from roadsides/ berms, etc.