‘Irregularities’ in tender for rice transportation in Jeypore
JEYPORE: The invitation of tenders by the district administration for transportation of rice from godowns to different delivery points across the district is likely to put an additional burden on the State exchequer of Rs 3 crore.
According to sources, the district administration had called tenders for transporting rice from different godowns of the district to supply it in 14 blocks and four Notified Area Councils (NACs) under Public Distribution Schemes (PDS).
Some contractors from Koraput applied for the tenders for different areas a few days back and it was found that only five to six contractors had put in their tenders and were selected automatically to lift about 15 lakh quintal rice in the next financial year.
What has raised eyebrows is that the contractors put their tenders on the higher side, about 30 per cent to 50 per cent more than last year. Despite this, they were selected for consideration.
It has come to light that over 10 other transportation contractors had applied for licence at the collectorate to participate in the process but the licences were not given in time depriving them of bagging the tenders.
The transporters of Koraput and Jeypore sub-division alleged that the selected contractors were facilitated to set excess price in collusion with some officials of the Civil Supply Department. They stated that tenders should have been cancelled considering that there was weak response and quotation was on the higher side.
They appealed to the Collector to cancel the entire tender process and call for fresh tenders for maximum participation and fair price for transportation.
District civil supply official sources clarified that the tender has not been finalised and it is the discretion of the Collector to clear it. District Civil Supply Officer Balabh Charan Das was not available for comment.
Last year, the price was Rs 3 crore and if this tender is passed, the Government would have to bear an additional expenditure of Rs 3 crore.