Rajkot's ₹50 Lakh Deduction Changes Who Pays for Delay

"Negligence in development work proves costly: RMC fines contractor ₹50 lakh for delaying bridge connecting AIIMS; work meant to take 6 months took 2.5 years."

— Bhaskar English, Rajkot

Emple Construction was awarded the Shantinagar bridge contract in 2023. The estimate was ₹5.5 crore. The tender gave six months. The work took two-and-a-half years. The bridge connects that area with AIIMS, and the project was taken up because a drain ran alongside the route. Notices went out repeatedly, asking the agency to finish within the stipulated period. Notices changed nothing. What changed at RMC is where the penalty lands: the ₹50 lakh was deducted from the contractor's payment before the remaining amount was released.

What did the contractor blame, and who checked it?

Land handover delays, plus water standing in the drain. City Engineer Atul Raval told Divya Bhaskar that deadlines can be extended for valid reasons — site clearance, shifting utilities, design changes, natural disasters — and that this agency's approach indicated negligence instead. Civic officials investigated the two claims and found them false. The penalty was imposed after the water had entered the drain and the road had opened. A contractor who can point to land handover and standing water holds two arguments the corporation must disprove from its own site records before it can touch the bill, and that investigation, not the fine, is the part other civic bodies can copy.

What does a day of delay cost now?

Earlier, contractors on delayed RMC projects often got relief from penalties, or had fines waived outright after citing reasons. The new rule imposes 0.01% of project cost for every day a project stays incomplete past its deadline. On a ₹5.5 crore job that is ₹5,500 a day. The article does not record whether the ₹50 lakh was computed at that rate or fixed separately. Mayor Dr Nehal Shukla set the direction at a recent general board meeting, directing officials to pay special attention to delays and indicating new rules would follow if required. Raval's office enforces. Emple pays.

Which contracts does the daily rate reach?

Emple signed in 2023. The report does not say whether 0.01% a day applies to contracts already running, or only to those tendered after the rule. It says the civic body "has since started taking action" against negligent contractors without naming any others. It gives no appeal route for an agency whose stated reasons were rejected by an investigation the corporation ran itself. Officials frame the purpose as less time lost to traffic on the Shantinagar approach and public money spent on schedule.

The ₹50 lakh came out of Emple Construction's payment before the rest was released.