Min: Will cancel 1.200 crore garbage tender

Mumbai: State Industries Minister Uday Samant announced on Monday that the Rs 1,200 crore tender awarded by BMC to collect garbage from the city's slums and keep them clean, which was given to private companies, will be cancelled if it is found that the employment interests of local youths and inhabitants are being sidelined.
Samant was responding to a calling attention motion raised by BJP leader and Legislative Council member Pravin Darekar.Darekar pointed out that the work is currently being carried out by thousands of local youths belonging to several NGOs, which include groups of unemployed and handicapped people, social service organizations, women's associations, and their self-help groups. “If these works are awarded to private companies for the next four years, around 2,500 NGOs and 75,000 workers associated with them will become unemployed,” Darekar and several other legislators from both the ruling and opposition benches pointed out. tnn