Finish Mantralaya repairs by March 31, government tells contractor

MUMBAI: A day after he was appointed additional chief secretary (PWD), bureaucrat Anand Kulkarni on Tuesday gave an ultimatum to Unity Infraprojects and PWD technocrats to finish the on-going repair of Mantralaya before March 31 or face consequences.
Kulkarni had a meeting with additional chief secretary (protocol) Sumit Mallick, Unity chairman Kishore Awarsekar and senior officials of the PWD on the delay in Mantralaya’s repairs.At least three floors of Mantralaya were burnt in a fire on June 21, 2012.
“I was told that when the Rs 138 crore contract was allotted to the firm, it was assured that the entire work will be completed within eight months. But major works are yet to be done. This is not an acceptable situation. The entire work must be completed before Mach 31, failing which government will have no option but to initiate stringent action against the developer,” Kulkarni said.
On November 30, 2012, Unity was given the contract for repair and restoration of Mantralaya. Subsequently, the period of completion was extended up to July 31, 2014. When that deadline too lapsed, the PWD had issued a show-cause notice to the developer.
“We had issued them a show-cause notice. At today’s meeting, the developer has assured to complete the entire work before March 31,” Kulkarni said, adding, “PWD engineers will have to step in and ensure that the work is completed in a time-bound period.”
Awarsekar said, “We are keen on completing the work on schedule, but it was delayed due to situations beyond our control. We had to undertake the work while most of the offices were still functioning.”