Mumbai, March 22 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cancelled a Rs.150 crore contract for thermoplastic road markings after the Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, Ameet Satam, raised concerns of corruption. The civic body had planned to introduce thermoplastic paint for road markings across the city, since the material is known to be durable and high reflectivity at night. The BMC has said the material would improve the visibility of lane markings and zebra crossings at night and help reduce accidents. However, Satam questioned the basis of allocating Rs.50 crore each to Mumbai's three regions, the city, the eastern suburbs and the western suburbs, despite significant differences in road lengths. He pointed out that the western suburbs have nearly three times the road length of the other two regions. Satam also questioned why the road-marking work was not included in the BMC's ongoing Rs.10,000 crore road concretisation project. Satam alleged that contractors, in collusion with civic officials, often conceptualise projects and tailor tenders to suit their interests. He said projects should be conceptualised by elected representatives and the administration, not contractors. "There is a dire need to make our systems citizen-centric rather than contractor-centric," he said. Following his complaint to BMC chief Bhushan Gagrani, mayor Ritu Tawde also took up the issue. The BMC then cancelled the tender on Friday, as reflected on its e-procurement portal. Additional municipal commissioner (projects) Abhijit Bangar told HT that a fresh tender would be issued after deciding the scope of work. This is not the first time that the BMC had been forced to cancel its contracts following allegations of corruption. Recently, the BMC scrapped a Rs.385 crore contract for installing bollards on footpaths after Satam alleged it was "tailor-made" to suit a particular contractor....