The CAG points to flaws in BMC's public markets for the sale of fruits, vegetables and meat

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has noted inadequacies in the building, maintenance, and management of public markets by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the sale of fruits, vegetables, and meat in its report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. A large portion of the market building built under the Accommodation Reservation Scheme was either unoccupied or unused.

 

Despite a breach of the lease agreement, the Market department neglected to take concrete steps to evict the tenant. For more than six years, a market building completed by BMC with ten stories had been unused for market activities. According to the CAG, there has been little progress in redeveloping existing dilapidated marketplaces and rehabilitating business owners. Inadequate internal controls and poor monitoring in the Market Department were revealed by the improper keeping of data linked to outstanding dues and the short recovery of various charges.

 

MCGM had 195 municipal markets as of February 2021. The audit examined the records of the BMC's Market Department for the period 2017-2020 (January 2021 and February 2021) to analyse the utilization and reconstruction of markets, as well as the recovery of various levies from allottees. Plots earmarked for the market are constructed by private developers and handed up to BMC free of charge under the Accommodation Reservation Scheme (Scheme), in exchange for which the developer is given an incentive floor space index. Under the Scheme, 103 such markets were taken over.

 

Nearly 21.57% of the market area was vacant, with 20.10% of the market area assigned to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) but not taken over by them because the allotment was made on the first and second floors of the market building, which were not suitable for their company. Furthermore, Government departments and autonomous organisations were granted 22.18 percent of the market area, which was used for purposes other than market services.

 

 

"As of December 2021, 43.75 percent of the market area was either not used for market services or was unoccupied," according to CAG. Nine of the 103 markets were leased to private agencies for operation and maintenance as Municipal Retail Markets, with three of them being audited.

 

The lessee was allowed to allot the galas/shops/premises to individuals, organisations, corporate bodies, or any other entity for the authorised market services under the terms of the lease agreement between the lessee and the BMC. As of December 2021, BMC had developed 92 markets, with 10,848 (96%) of the 62 markets with 11,351 existing shops/galas being inhabited. The remaining 30 markets were undergoing renovations.

 

 

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