THANE: The issue of the contractor handling the TMC canteen not paying rent for two years has taken a new twist. The estate department of the TMC has claimed that the contractor had paid the rent. Now the department and the members of the opposition are taking up the issue with the civic standing committee.
The TMC had signed a five-year contract with Shivamudra Mahila Mandal, the concerned contractor to run the canteen. According to the deal, the contractor was asked to pay the TMC Rs 986 per day, which amounted to approximately Rs 18 lakh for five years.
According to Sudhir Bhatnakar, in-charge of the civic estate department, the contractor was to pay Rs 10.35 lakh until last December. "As the amount was high, they approached the civic commissioner to let them run the canteen for five days in a week. That way, they would only have to pay for 1,360 days instead of the five-year period. Instead of paying Rs 18 lakh, the contractor has to pay Rs 13.41 lakh, out of which they have already paid Rs 8.96 lakh," he informed. Bhatnakar also informed that there was an outstanding of Rs 4.45 lakh. "We converted the contractor's deposit of Rs 2.36 lakh and now there is only Rs 2.09 lakh to be paid," he added.
Although Bhatnakar has claimed that the contractor owes the TMC Rs 2.09 lakh, the opposition claims that there was no documentation of the same in the last financial year's list. "We had received details of the canteen from the estate department a few weeks ago. According to the details, the canteen has an outstanding rent of Rs 9.12 lakh that hasn't been paid for the last few years. Also, the contract expired last October and hasn't been renewed as yet. We are going to raise the issue during the next standing committee meeting and ask them to look into the matter," alleged Hanumant Jagdale, the leader of the opposition.
courtesy:www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
