BMC data centre scam of Rs 198 crore surfaces, probe officer abruptly removed

An alleged data centre scam worth nearly Rs 198 crore has surfaced in the Information Technology (IT) department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), causing a stir in administrative circles. M. Devendra Singh, head of the corporation's efficiency department, who was probing the financial irregularity in depth and trying to get to the bottom of the matter, was abruptly stripped of charge of the IT department.

It was being said that the move was made to protect certain favoured engineers who had stayed in the same department for over a decade and a half despite transfers. However, following directions from the efficiency department, IT director Arun Kshirsagar has now continued the investigation into the matter, adding to the stir in administrative circles.

According to information disclosed by RTI activists, three officers, Rajendra Phanse, Vilas Kumbhare and Amit Gadekar, all with civil and mechanical engineering backgrounds, have been working in the IT department since 2007. It is alleged that despite having no academic qualification or technical experience in the IT field, these officers were directly taking decisions linked to tender processes and approvals worth crores of rupees.

Between 2012 and 2015, only Rs 66 crore was spent on the maintenance of the BMC's entire data centre and equipment in Mumbai. But in 2015, a controversial plan was suddenly drawn up to shut down the BMC's state of the art data centre and switch to private cloud infrastructure, with the claim that this would save costs.

It later emerged that contracts worth Rs 50 crore were given to Control S, Rs 35 crore to ABM and Rs 22 crore to ESDS. In addition, separate FMS contracts worth Rs 75 crore and Rs 23 crore were issued for maintenance of the BMC's original data centre. This meant a total of Rs 198 crore was spent between 2018 and 2021.

Leader of the opposition Kishori Pednekar has written to the additional municipal commissioner strongly criticising the administration over the alleged large scale scam. She questioned under what rules officers who were originally civil engineers had been appointed to the IT department. She demanded that the original proposal, notings and file records related to their appointment be made public immediately, and that all financial irregularities and administrative decisions be thoroughly investigated with the officers concerned suspended.

Complainant Santosh Daundkar has alleged that despite the commissioner's directions, some officers have not been transferred, raising suspicion of financial irregularity. He said a written complaint on this has been filed with the commissioner and the efficiency department.

IT director Arun Kshirsagar said the inquiry into complaints of some officers remaining in the same post for a long time has been completed and the final report submitted to the additional commissioner. The investigation into complaints of alleged irregularities in IT department tenders is still ongoing. Only after the investigation is complete and an official report is out will it become clear how accurate these allegations are and who is responsible for the financial irregularity.