Congress accuses NDA of procedural violation in the tender for waste management project

The evaluation criteria and the marking system in the tender procedure have been designed to suit the firm’s convenience, Narayanasamy alleges

Former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Sunday accused the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Union Territory of a procedural violation in the tender for the garbage management project in the urban areas of Puducherry.

At a press conference here, he said bids were invited without the approval of the Minister for Urban Basic Services (UBS) and the Finance Department.

Substantiating his charge by releasing a copy of an internal note addressed by Minister for Civil Supplies A.K Sai J Saravanan Kumar, who handles UBS in the cabinet, to the Chief Secretary on June 10 calling for the work to be re-tendered, Mr. Narayanasamy said the Request for Proposal and technical evaluation of the bidders were done by the same person.

The Request for Proposal documents were prepared by Darashaw Private Limited. The firm also did the technical evaluation of the bidders, the former Chief Minister said. The Minister had cited the name of the firm in the internal note he had addressed to the Chief Secretary.

“The evaluation criteria and the marking system etc., have been designed to suit their (the firm) convenience. There are many companies across India that could make the bidding competitive and therefore the government should call for fresh bids...,” Mr. Narayanasamy said, quoting the noted prepared by the Minister.

In the internal note, the Minister had stated that the Puducherry Urban Development Agency had failed to submit files pertaining to UBS under the pretext that the matter was concerning Local Administration though the funds were meant for UBS, the former Chief Minister said.

The Congress leader said the onus was on Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to come out clean as he holds the Local Administration portfolio.