MUMBAI, June 24 -- Residents in the Vasai -Virar region are finding themselves at the receiving end of a conflict between the municipal corporation and eight civic contractors in solid waste management services. The contractors, who participated in the tendering process for these services, had made it to the shortlist but have now approached the Bombay High Court, seeking a stay on a second tender floated after the corporation cancelled the first one on "technical grounds". The Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) floated the first tender in September 2024, to appoint contractors for solid waste management services including daily cleaning, cleaning of sewage chambers, door-to-door garbage collection, housing society garbage collection, and the disposal of the solid waste thus collected at dumping yards. The tender of Rs.207 crore covered a span three years, from 2025-26 to 2027-28. VVCMC officials said several contractors had submitted applications and after technical scrutiny, eight contractors were declared eligible, but in May 2025, the VVCMC cancelled the first tender and floated a second one for Rs.254 crore. The eight contractors found eligible under the first tender approached the court, challenging the decision to invite a second tender and said they had paid the sum required to start work and had gone to VVCMC Commissioner Anilkumar Pawar but he was unmoved. "We were prepared to start work and requested an annual increase of 10%. However, the commissioner cancelled the tender and increased the sum to Rs.254 crore," said one of the contractors. Asked why the sum had suddenly been raised, Sanjay Herwade, additional municipal commissioner, VVCMC, said this was due to an increase in the population in the region, from 12 lakh in 2007. The case has taken a turn with Dhananjay Gawade, founder of Swaraj Abhyan, an NGO, intervening. During the June 18 hearing, Gawade alleged that, in 2019, an FIR had been registered against the eight contractors and they were blacklisted for misappropriation of Rs.122 crore. "VVCMC should never have selected these contractors," he said. The court has sought a written application from the NGO before the next hearing. The contractors, for their part, claim they have met the requirements of the tending process as the companies they currently represent have not been blacklisted by the VVCMC. Meanwhile, residents say the tug-of-war between contractors and the VVCMC has begun to take a toll on civic services. "Due to the shoddy work, roads have started to get waterlogged in several areas as the storm water drains have not been cleaned," said 45-year-old Raj Dosani, worried if this continues, it could stop garbage collection make things worse....