NMC terminates energy saving deal with Vibrant

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation's (NMC's) experiment in energy saving involving the private sector has failed with the NMC terminating the controversial contract with Vibrant Infotech mid-way. The contract was in force for 18 uncomfortable months.

The NMC general body meeting on Thursday unanimously decided to terminate the contract. After an hour-long debate in the NMC House over the flaws in the services of Vibrant Infotech, Mayor Vikas Thakre directed the civic administration to terminate the agency's services and restore the old contracts.

During these period Vibrant, which is part of the diversified Raisoni Group, had to face a barrage of complaints from the elected corporators almost everyday. Vibrant Infotech was awarded the contract for "electrical maintenance and energy saving" on build-operate-transfer basis by the NMC in April 2003.

Vibrant was to save 30 per cent electricity by installing standard electricity saving units (ESUs) and also had to maintain street lights. The terms of the contract specified that Vibrant should install 1,050 ESUs and also look after the maintenance and replacement of the 71,000 streetlights in the city.

In 2002 the total electricity bill paid by the NMC was Rs 8 crore. This was taken as the base year for working out the contract.

Trouble started within the first few months when Vibrant discovered that a number of streetlights were not in working condition. The NMC then installed high-mast lamps that consumed more electricity. The high-mast lamps were put up on the main squares in the city.

Several complaints, such as infrequent functioning of streetlights to streetlights not working, flooded the NMC office after the contract was awarded. Vibrant tried to bring in professionalism in the sector by deploying several motorised vehicles specially fitted with mechanical ladders to respond to distress calls. It even advertised zone-wise telephone numbers asking citizens to call in complaints.

However, the experiment fell through after NMC found that energy bills were not going down the way they desired.

Corporators worked overtime to find out how many streetlights remained switched off during night and how much the installed ESUs cost the company. They filed a suit and criticised the new arrangement at a press conference. They charged that Vibrant was utilising sub-standard equipment. A section of corporators was never happy with the private sector participation.

BJP corporators Subhash Aparajit and Sanjay Bangale, Congress corporators Satish Hole and Prafulla Gudadhe alleged corruption in awarding the contract.

The corporators complained that they were facing public anger as the agency was switching off the streetlights to save electricity. This, corporators said, was being done by the company as its energy saving units were not working as expected.

Prafulla Gudadhe and Subhash Aparajit revealed that 221 ESUs out of the total 784 installed by the company were not working. Also around 350 ESUs, including some old ones, were missing.

They also objected to civic administration's act of extending Rs 43 lakh payment to the company despite company's failure to meet 30 per cent energy saving on NMC's electricity bill. A spokesman of Vibrant Infotech said that the company take the legal course against the unilateral termination of the contract.