Krishnaraj Rao
Mumbai: Special Planning Authority MMRDA, which implements major infrastructure projects under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, has spent Rs 48 crore on private security contracts in the last 8 years. The spend has gradually increased to about Rs 10 crore per annum currently.
Out of 1,587 security guards, only nine are from the Security Board, while the balance of around 1,578 are provided by private security agencies, revealed a RTI filed by Anil Galgali with the MMRDA.
RTI Activist Anil Galgali who is a frequent visitor to MMRDA headquarters has observed that the security guards are only seen at MMRDA and never at the project locations. So he filed an RTI application to check how many security guards are hired, from which agencies, and what is the contracted amount with the agencies. He requested this information for 8 years.
MMRDA informed him that they have 1,572 security guards and six gunmen for various sites. In the last 8 years, MMRDA has spent around Rs 48 crores and all the security agencies have not changed — Bombay Intelligence Security Ltd (BIS), Vishal Protection Force,Singh Intelligence Pvt Ltd, Modern V R Security, Eagle Security & Personnel Services got the bulk of MMRDA’s work and money. The Govt undertaking — Security Board — inexplicably got very little work, although it is mandatory to appoint Security Board guards. This is clearly mentioned in the Labour Ministry Government Resolution.
Anil Galgali points out a major discrepancy: MMRDA’s records show that it is paying these private agencies a contracted amount of Rs 4,800 per security guard per month per eight hour shift. But the salaries paid by these agencies to their men, as per norms, are Rs 6,000 to 7,000. So does this mean that the agencies are actually making losses of Rs 1200 to Rs 2200 per head?
Not necessarily. According to Galgali, the figures are tweaked. The actual strength of guards is actually much less than the 1587 shown in the books.
Anil Galgali has written to the chief minister, UD Principal Secretary and MMRDA Commissioner to launch an inquiry on this issue and take strict action against the guilty for misusing tax payers money.
