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Mumbai: ‘BMC Lost Over 200 Crores in Car Parking Contracts’, Alleges RTI Activist, Demands Inquiry

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9 months ago

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Mumbai: 'BMC Lost Over 200 Crores in Car Parking Contracts', Alleges RTI Activist, Demands Inquiry

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started awarding Elevated Multilevel Electromechanical Car Parking System (Shuttle and Robo Parker System) at various locations in Mumbai, including Mumbadevi, Matunga, Fort and Worli.

RTI activist Anil Galgali has demanded an inquiry, complaining that the Mumbai Corporation has suffered a huge loss of more than Rs.200 Crores in the Car Parking contracts. In Delhi, the cost of Car Parking per Vehicle is in the range of approx. Rs. 7 lakhs to 17 lakhs and whereas the cost of Car Parking per Vehicle in Mumbai is in the range of approx. Rs.22 lakhs to 40 lakhs. The Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) partner is M/s Sotefin Parking Private Limited in all the bid tenders so far awarded by the Municipal Corporation.

Activist Demands Cancellation of Controversial Contracts

Galgali in a letter sent to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani has sought inquiry about the car parking contracts work awarded worth Rs. 513.41 Crores and demanded immediate cancellation of all the controversial contracts awarded recently.

In the complaint, Galgali has stated that the OEM partner among all the tenderers is common i.e. M/s Sotefin Parking Private Limited. The Car Parking contracts awarded worth Rs. 513.41 Crores is more than the work done by M/s. Sotefin Parking Pvt. Ltd. at the same location. The only OEM partner who has entered into an MOA with more than one tenderer is M/s Sotefin Parking Pvt. Ltd. which creates serious doubts on the BMC tendering process.

Sotefin Parking Pvt. Ltd. Charged Different Rates For Delhi & Mumbai

The OEM partner M/s. Sotefin Parking Pvt. Ltd. has executed 264 Car Parking System for CPWD at Central Vista Project, New Delhi at a total project cost of Rs. 44.71 Crores for which cost works out to Rs.16.94 lakhs per Car Parking. The same OEM also executed another work for CPWD for 300 Car Parking System at GPRA, New Delhi at a total project cost of Rs. 21.18 Crores for which cost works out to Rs. 7.06 lakhs per Car Parking. The BMC has awarded a contract to SMS Infrastructure Ltd. with the same OEM to execute 546 Car Parking System near Mumbadevi Temple in Mumbai at the project cost of Rs. 122.60 Crores for which cost works out to Rs.22.45 Lakh per Car Parking, Galgali said.

Galgali added that at present, the works awarded and/or assigned by the BMC include Matunga, Flora Fountain and Worli. The BMC has recently awarded a contract to Vishal Construction with the same OEM to execute 176 Car Parking System near Apsara Pen Flora Fountain, Fort in Mumbai at the project cost of Rs.70 Crores for which cost works out to a whopping sum of Rs.39.90 Lakh per Car Parking. Similarly, the BMC Engineering Hub Building, Worli, Mumbai Car Parking contract was awarded to Shree Enterprises with the same OEM to execute 640 Car Parking System at the project cost of Rs. 216.94 Crores for which cost works out to Rs.33.90 Lakh per Car Parking.

Likewise, Matunga near Central Railway the contract was awarded to Relcon Infraprojects Ltd. with the same OEM to execute 475 Car Parking System at the project cost of Rs.103.87 Crores for which cost works out to Rs.21.87 Lakh per Car Parking. Moreover, the MMRDA too has awarded a similar contract to Shree Enterprises with the same OEM to execute 669 Car Parking System at Malavani, Malad, Mumbai at the project cost of Rs.150 Crores for which cost works out to Rs.22.42 Lakh per Car Parking.    

Cost Evaluation Of Bids Not Done Properly

Galgali alleged that it seems the cost evaluation of the bids was not done properly by the Municipal Corporation/ MMRDA as no analysis of rates was done nor did the Department take other similar projects being implemented across India as a reference point for cost evaluation. It will be surprising and shocking to note that the same bidders who have been awarded the above works are doing the same/similar works in other Government Departments like CPWD, NHIDCL, Railways, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and MMRDA at lower rate but they have paid 200% to 300% more by the BMC for the same/similar work to be done here in Mumbai. These issues can be clarified when the BMC requests the MMRDA as well as some Central Government agencies to share their bid documents and cost estimates to find out the correct picture. 

Hundreds of such automatic mechanized car parking systems have been built or executed in Srinagar, Jammu, cities in Kerala, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Itanagar, Guwahati, Pune, etc. at a much lower cost than the bid amount given by the BMC. One should look for data, drawings, financial terms and conditions, operation and maintenance contracts etc. from these agencies to know the truth. A proper inquiry into the matter is warranted to verify the justification of such inflated rates, terms and conditions. One can also consult IIT Delhi professors who have been on several committees to evaluate such mechanical automated car parking for the last 15 years, he said.

There are many old and reputed companies like CCCL (Chennai), Wipro-Pari (Pune), Heman (Kerala), SimPark (Kolkata) which have built and/or executed more than thousand fully automated parking systems at individual locations in various cities. How many wrongdoings are attempted in such tenders only when private companies, list of projects with car parking capacity, contract value of such projects, O&M rate etc. can be sought from above government and private entities using the same Robo Shuttle System at a much lower rate than that proposed by the BMC said Galgali.

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Maharashtra

Rain started in Mumbai

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16 mins ago

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June 4, 2025

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Mumbai: Heavy rains have been continuing in Mumbai since last night. Mumbai city has recorded 20.93 mm of rain, East 23.40 mm and West 20.10 mm of rain. Despite the rain continuing in the city and suburbs, life is normal. Train and bus services are normal. Due to rain in the city, there have also been complaints of water accumulation on the roads due to lack of cleaning of drains in low-lying areas. According to BMC, rain will continue in the city and the rain will be intermittent. Therefore, BMC has claimed to make all the arrangements, but due to lack of repair of roads in the city, citizens are facing a lot of problems.

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Maharashtra

Bihar’s crores thief Aamir Kabir arrested from Mumbai

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21 hours ago

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June 3, 2025

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Mumbai: Mumbai Malad Police has arrested a clever prince thief who used to disguise himself as a woman to escape from the police and used railway tracks to avoid CCTV cameras. Malad Police has seized a gold melting machine, 36 tolas of gold and silver jewellery, women’s clothes and cash from the thief. Police investigation has revealed that the accused thief has many bungalows and flats. He was committing such thefts for a long time, but was not caught yet. However, he has committed dozens of such thefts so far. Malad Police has arrested Prince Aamir Kabir thief after a lot of hard work and further investigation is on.

According to ACP Hemant Sawant of Malad Division, the clever accused Ranjeet Kumar Upendra alias Munna (44) is a resident of Babuganj in Bihar. He was arrested from Malad Malwani area. To escape from the police, the accused used to steal by disguising himself as a woman and sometimes used to walk on the railway track in the guise of a beggar to steal. According to senior Malad police officer Vijay Panhale, property worth about 57 lakhs has been seized from the accused, which includes 16 lakh cash deposited in the bank and jewelry and goods worth 41 lakhs. So far 8 cases have been registered against this clever thief, but he has not been arrested anywhere.

This disclosure has been made after the team of Malad Police Station’s investigating officer Tushar Sukhdev, Santosh Satwase, Amit Govind, Avinash Jadhav, constable Mahesh Doifode examined more than 150 CCTV cameras from the railway track and other places. The police is expecting more such serious revelations as the accused has been cleverly escaping from the spot while committing countless such crimes for the last 10 years and has become the owner of flats, land and bungalows worth crores.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: 3 arrested for fraud in the name of providing gold at cheap price

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22 hours ago

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June 3, 2025

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Mumbai: Mumbai Police has busted a gang that claimed to import gold from abroad and provide gold to people at cheap prices by becoming a self-styled police. The police have claimed to have arrested three members of this gang – according to the details, they gained the trust of the complainant by promising to import pure gold from abroad and sell it at a low price. It may be noted that the accused cheated the complainant by calling him Rs 2 lakh in cash and disguising himself as a police officer on May 27, 2025 at around 3:30 pm at BMW Showroom, CST Road, Kalina, Santa Cruz East Mumbai and not giving the gold to the complainant. The police have registered a case of cheating in this case.

During the search for the accused in this crime, information was received from technical investigation and confidential informant that the said accused was going to come to CST Road, Kalina, Santa Cruz Mumbai on June 2. Accordingly, the BKC Police Station Crime Detection Team had laid a trap at the said place. When the accused CST reached there around 4 pm, the police team identified the accused and kept an eye on him. However, as soon as they suspected the matter, the accused fled from Kurla and got into his motor car parked in front of the BMW showroom. The said motor car and the accused were chased by the police team. At that time, the said accused and his accomplices fled the car leaving the car on the road. The police team chased the accused who had snatched the motor car and out of the 04 accused who were riding in the motor car, 3 accused were arrested and arrested at different places.

The arrested 3 accused are criminals and criminal cases are registered against them in different police stations.
The identity of the accused whom the police have arrested in this case is, Muhammad Mohsin Abu Bilal Chaudhary, 33 years old, against him, Other cases including cheating are registered in BKC, Nowghar, Ghatkopar.
Cases have been registered against Tabrez Younis Qureshi, 39, at BKC, Gujrat, and Nowghar police stations. Cases have been registered against Pradeep Dadaram Thorat, 37, at BKC, Parghar police stations, including cases of assault and violence. DCP Manish Kalaniya has not ruled out further arrests in this case and the police are hopeful of more revelations in the investigation. DCP Manish said that this group used to cheat under the guise of providing gold. The investigation is also underway to find out how many people this group has fooled and cheated through this method so far and the investigation is underway under the guidance of senior officers.

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