05/08/2025
Controversial vehicle towing contract awarded to Vidarbha Infotech to be scrapped
Chaitanya Marpakwar
| Mumbai Mirror | Jun 24, 2019, 06:17 IST
7-year contract awarded to Vidarbha Infotech in 2016 had been deemed invalid by state law and judiciary department last year
The city’s controversial vehicle towing service is on its way out. The state government has decided to scrap the seven-year contract given by the traffic police to Nagpur-based Vidarbha Infotech Pvt Ltd following allegations of favouritism in awarding the contract and lapses in the tender process.
The state home department has also told the Bombay High Court that it will initiate a probe against officials involved in doling out the contract. Fresh tenders will also be floated to get a new agency for towing vehicles in the city.
The Home department’s decision to scrap Vidarbha Infotech’s contract comes after the state’s Law and Judiciary department stated last year that the contract itself was invalid. Then Commissioner of Police Datta Padsalgikar too had written to the Home department, flagging the deal, recommending that the contract be scrapped.
More stories on mumbai
Quack pack: Impostor doctors galore in across Maha
Quack pack: Impostor doctors galore in across Maha
Unravel Mumbai’s sacred geography
Walking with the Warli community
More societies are beefing up security set-up
“The home department has decided to scrap the contract. We will initiate a probe against the concerned officials and an enquiry will be conducted. We will float fresh tenders and get a new agency for vehicle towing. We have informed the Bombay HC about our decision in an affidavit and are awaiting further directions from the court,” a senior Home department official said.
Mumbai Mirror had last year reported that the L&J department had concluded that the contract was invalid, as the then Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Milind Bharambe had no authority to sign or award it. The L&J department had called out several ‘irregularities’ in the deal, after home department had asked for its opinion if the seven-year contract should be terminated.
In 2016, the traffic police had awarded Vidarbha Infotech a long-term contract to tow away vehicles using vans fitted with hydraulic lifts from noparking zones. The state L&J department had questioned the contract over lack of approval from the high-level purchase committee led by the additional chief secretary (Home). The other anomalies included lack of state administrative approval which is mandatory for contracts over Rs 1 crore; no sanction from the then Commissioner of Police; and no advertisements in national newspapers.
In September 2017, then CP Dattatray Padsalgilkar had also flagged the deal. In his letter to the Home department dated September 16, 2017, Padsalgikar had categorically stated that the contract should be scrapped. Padsalgikar who is now the state’s Upa Lokayukta had said that he had scrutinised the documents and found several lapses in the tender process carried out by Bharambe’s office.
“In view of the findings, since there are lacunae noticed in the tender process, it would be proper to cancel the work order issued to Ms Vidarbha Infotech Pvt. Ltd on the basis of the said tender process and a fresh tender as per rules and procedure needs to be called,” Padsalgikar had said in his letter.
In response to the allegations, Prasant Ugemuge, the managing director of Vidarbha Infotech, said, “We participated in the open tender through the Maharashtra government’s official portal. We won the bid in a transparent manner. We are executing the contract flawlessly as per its scope. There are no complaints about our performance. We are awaiting the court’s order,” Ugemuge said.
IPS officer Milind Bharambe who was Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) when the contract was awarded to Vidarbha Infotech too said that the tender was awarded in a transparent manner following due procedure.
“It is the prerogative of the government whether to scrap the contract or not. The contract was awarded in a transparent manner. All procedure was followed. We will abide by the court’s order,” Bharambe said.
Former city Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, who was the first to level allegations of favouritism in the Vidarbha Infotech contract, demanded a high level probe into the entire episode.
“Our stand has been vindicated. The contract must be scrapped at once and Vidarbha Infotech must be blacklisted. All contracts awarded to Vidarbha Infotech must be probed since there has been favouritism in each one of them,” Nirupam said. He also alleged that companies from Nagpur were being favoured by the state government.
“Companies from Nagpur seem to be bagging one contract after another in violation of norms ever since this government came to power. Nothing wrong if Nagpur companies are doing well, but favouritism and nepotism are unacceptable,” he added.
