BBMP fines Indira Canteens contractors Rs 82 lakh

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has imposed a Rs 82.55 lakh penalty on the contractors of the Indira Canteens for violating various tender agreements.

Contracts for the project, mooted by former chief minister Siddaramaiah and inaugurated by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on August 16, 2017, ahead of the Assembly elections, was awarded to two companies: Rewards and ChefTalk.

The one-year contract was given to supply food to all 199 canteens across the city. M Shivaraju, the ruling party leader in the BBMP, told DH that the civic body will deduct the fine amount from the contract money.

Canteen observers appointed by the BBMP to monitor the eateries have found various violations such as unhygienic conditions, late supply of food, not matching the indent quantity and poor quality. Besides that, the staff were found without uniforms, with complaints of misbehaviour.

“Indira Canteens is a success because of stricter penalties and constant monitoring of the canteens every day,” Shivaraju added.

A few months after launching the canteens, the Palike appointed retired marshals as Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) to monitor the quality of food and maintenance of the canteens. It appointed one JCO each for the 28 Assembly constituencies.

The JCOs were given standard operating procedures’ training to monitor the canteens. They were asked to follow up on complaints, safeguard the goods and infrastructure, besides collecting customer feedback.

The penalty on violations, which DH has accessed, showed that the fines ranged from Rs 50,000 to Rs 25,000 for reasons like low quality rice, sambar, pongal, idli, and non-availability of pickle, among others. Also, breakfast, lunch and dinner were not served on time.