The Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) authorities is dealing with questions over the tender course of for the development of the Chief Minister’s Workplace, with a Times of India (TOI) report saying that obligatory on-line tendering norms weren’t adopted and that the demolition work started even earlier than the tenders had been floated in public.
The allegations are notably notable as a result of transparency in authorities procurement has been one of many reforms publicly highlighted by the brand new authorities and by Chief Minister Vijay personally.
In its first finances, the TVK authorities introduced reforms to public procurement via an open tender system, with Finance Minister N Marie Wilson saying the transfer was supposed to finish cartelisation, enhance transparency and be sure that authorities contracts didn’t profit a choose group of contractors. The federal government has additionally stated that departmental procurements and public tenders could be made totally clear and topic to stricter monitoring.
Towards that backdrop, the TOI report has raised questions over the tendering course of for the Chief Minister’s new workplace.
In line with the report, the Public Works Division’s (PWD) Buildings (Building and Upkeep) wing issued tender notifications on August 12 and 13, inviting contractors to submit purposes by September 1. Nevertheless, the tenders weren’t initially uploaded on the federal government’s e-procurement portal, regardless of on-line tendering being obligatory.
In line with the report, the tenders had been uploaded on-line solely after TOI raised the difficulty with PWD officers. The newspaper reported that it contacted PWD Secretary R Selvaraj at round 9.30 am on Monday, August 17, asking why the tenders had not been uploaded. Selvaraj reportedly stated they’d be put on-line, following which they appeared on the portal at round 10 am.
The delay is notable as a result of, in response to TOI, the PWD had uploaded 135 different tenders on-line between August 12 and August 17, whereas the three tenders regarding the CMO weren’t uploaded till the newspaper raised the difficulty.
The report additionally flagged discrepancies within the disclosure of the venture value. Whereas the print model of the tender discover reportedly talked about a worth of Rs 5.54 crore, these value particulars had been absent from the net tender paperwork. The related value area on the net portal was marked “NA”.
The controversy comes because the TVK authorities completes 100 days in workplace.
