Few takers for city beautification

With the GHMC receiving just 22 tenders for the murals and art works on flyovers and pillars, the city beautification programme may take a while to show intended results

T P Venu

The officials at Urban Biodiversity wing of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were expecting a horde of artists on Wednesday, the last day to submit tenders for its beautification plan, but only a few turned up. According to sources, just 10 artists submitted tenders for the murals. An artist can submit multiple tenders. The tenders are for murals on 14 flyovers. There are five new pillars on which work is to be done and many pillars were left empty during the COP-11.

The reason for the lukewarm response is the high earnest money deposit of Rs 25,000 per tender. Mallesh, an artist said, “The earnest money deposit is too high. How does GHMC expect artists to spend such high amount? I wanted to take part in the bid, but dropped out in the last moment as I could not gather the amount.” There is a provision of penalties in case of defects and that has put off many artists. “Some of the provisions are absurd. What is a defect? An artist may design something which looks incomplete, but has a deeper meaning. Will that work be penalised?” asks Surender Rao an artist who specialises in mural art.

Another reason for artists not showing interest is the delayed payments for the work done during COP-11. Maredu Ramu, an artist, said, “Even if one gets the work he has to spend from his own money and GHMC would pay after 50 per cent of work is done. Most artists do not have that kind of money.”

According to sources GHMC may invite bids once again. A senior official said that scrutiny was yet to begin. Ramesh Buddi, an artist, said, “We hope GHMC tones down the rules so that more artists can participate.” Last time GHMC promised spot payment, but it took 10 months for us to get the amount.