Mehsana group, among major infra contractors for Gujarat govt, bought electoral bonds worth Rs 15 crore

Ranjit Buildcon Limited (RBL) and its two arms, Ranjit Projects Private Limited (RPPL) and Ranjit Toll Road Private Limited (RTRPL), which bought electoral bonds worth Rs 15 crore in 2023, is among the major contractors for infrastructure projects in Gujarat.

Last week, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) awarded the firm a Rs 109-crore contract to build a flyover in one of the city’s busy junctions.

RBL purchased poll bonds worth Rs 7 crore on January 24, 2023.

The same day, RPPL and RTRPL, firms promoted by the same family, purchased poll bonds worth Rs 1.5 crore each.

Thus, the group purchased Rs 10-crore bonds on January 24.

The group also purchased poll bonds worth Rs 5 crore on July 11, 2023.

This included Rs 2-crore bonds purchased by RBL and RTRPL each and bonds worth Rs 1 crore bought by RPPL.

The Mehsana registered firm, RBL is promoted by Parshotam Patel, his engineer brother Ranchhod Patel and their family members.

Over the last 15 years, this firm has got a number of projects of the state government, municipal corporations and urban development authorities in Gujarat, as well as of the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC).

On March 7, the AMC awarded a Rs 109-crore contract to RBL to build a flyover at Panjrapol crossroads.

Last October, a tender for the flyover was floated for an estimated Rs 62 crore, but no work order was awarded.

On March 7, this year, the Standing Committee approved the increase in its estimated cost, now Rs 78 crore – 29 per cent higher than the earlier estimate.

The four-lane flyover from Ambawadi to Vastrapur, with a length of 652 m and width of 17 m, is estimated to be completed in two years.

The contract for the 853-m Mumatpura overbridge in south Bopal of Ahmedabad, a slab of which crashed in December 2021, was also with RBL.

Gaurav Patel, the RBL managing director, had told The Indian Express then that the firm was handling “200 bridge projects in the country” and were “experts”.

Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority had awarded the contract to RBL in 2019 for Rs 60.91 crore in “in public interest”, as there were no takers for the tenders floated twice in 2022.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the bridge on May 12, 2023.