BVG India Ltd on Wednesday decided to take legal action against RTI activist Sanjay Surve for alleging corruption in the ₹16-crore contract awarded to the firm for mechanised housekeeping of four hospitals run by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
The annual contract was awarded to the company in 2015 for period of five years. Allegations levelled include the health department deliberately raising the contractor’s profit margin from 37% to 42%, the accounts department clearing payments of ₹70.17 lakh despite the firm not supplying the specified amount of chemicals, and the audit department failing to look into discrepancies highlighted in the auditor’s report.
Mr. Surve claimed that while going through the documents of the contract at Vashi municipal hospital, running to almost 222 pages, he uncovered a scam of ₹3.5 crore.
Yogesh Atre, Chief Operating Officer (West Zone), BVG India Ltd, said: “We have initiated the process to take legal action against Mr. Surve for making baseless allegations. The company maintains that it won the contract after a proper tendering process. All documents related to the contract will be made available to whoever wants to review it. Any allegations against us are baseless and seem to have ulterior motives. We will take legal action for defaming the company.”
Mr. Atre said, “The person making the allegations has never contacted us. We have being providing cleaning and maintenance services in many government hospitals across the country.”
Mr. Surve had alleged that the NMMC officials were hand in glove with the firm. He alleged that former NMMC Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe had terminated the services of the firm, but his successor Dr. N. Ramaswami had extended their contract. Mr. Surve said he was yet receive notice on the defamation case.
