HYDERABAD: The State government has overcome initial hiccups in the printing of Pattadar passbooks and the works are now moving on the expected lines. However, it’s unlikely that the distribution of the passbooks would commence on the scheduled date — March 11.
The State government will finalise the bids for printing of the 71.75 lakh passbooks this week. As a result, sources say, the process of distribution is likely to get pushed to April.
“The last date for filing of tenders for printing of the Pattadar Passbooks was March 5. We have received eight bids for the same. A high-level committee will finalise the technical and financial bids this week,” sources in Telangana State Technology Severices (TSTS ) told Express on Tuesday.
This is the third attempt by the State government to print the Pattadar passbooks. When it invited tenders for the first time, there was no response from private printing presses. Later, the State government decided to print the passbooks at four national security printing presses. However, due to some trouble, the national security printing presses insisted payment of `250 per passbook instead of the original price of `200 per book that was offered. Irked by the attitude of the national security presses, Chief Minister KCR directed the officials to cancel the deal.
For the third time, the bids were invited recently and there was a good response as eight bidders came forward to print the passbooks. “Some security features have been dropped and there are minor changes in the design of the passbooks. Once the bids are finalised, the printing will be completed within 20 days,” an official of TSTS said. According to sources, the lowest bidder will get 50 per cent of the printing work.
The second lowest bidder will be offered 25 per cent work, if he is willing to print the books for the rate quoted by the first lowest bidder. The third lowest bidder too will be given 25 per cent of the work for the lowest rate quoted by the first bidder. “If no bidder came forward to print the books at the rate offered by the first bidder, then all the work will be given to the first bidder alone,” sources said. The government is looking to give contracts to three different agencies in a bid to speed up the process.
The State will disburse `4,000 per acre to each farmer after May 15. “If we manage to distribute the Pattadar passbooks before May 15, there will be no problem,” an official said. Meanwhile, linking of Aadhar with farmers’ land record data collected during the purification of land records is nearing 80 pc completion.