CHENNAI: A tender to run and maintain a crematorium in Chennai runs to 110 pages, yet says nothing about the crematorium itself. The document floated by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is a generic template with provisions for maintaining bridges and stormwater drains, constructing buildings and relaying roads.
The tender, floated on October 1 by the Ambattur zone for the one-year operation and maintenance of the LPG crematorium at Pandurangapuram burial ground, does not even carry the title of the work. The GCC website lists the estimated cost as Rs 6.55 lakh, but the document has neither the estimate nor a bill of quantities (BoQ), the breakdown of items, quantities and rates that show where the money will go.
Such lapses might undermine the corporation’s own initiatives towards transparent tendering, which include training sessions for its officials.
In Tondiarpet zone, a tender floated on August 25 for the supply, installation and commissioning of lounges with essential facilities for gig workers at EH Road junction on Muthumariyamman Koil Street, at Rs 20.8 lakh, gives only the title and total estimated cost. There are no specification or scope of work.
While standardised templates are commonly used by zonal offices, particularly for works costing less than Rs 2 crore, some zones attach a BoQ to the last page of the document.
The Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar zone, for instance, used the same template for the operation and maintenance of the Padaipagam at Otteri but included a BoQ listing the categories and number of personnel to be engaged, their salary rates and the total estimated cost. A tender published on October 10 for the annual maintenance, repair and improvement of buildings, stormwater drains and parks, among other works, at Rs 5 lakh followed the same template with a BoQ that stated only the total value of the work, without a detailed cost estimate. Such details were missing from both the tenders cited above.
Though the practice of floating tenders using standard templates is not new to the Chennai corporation and had persisted even under previous governments, the public has now urged the civic body to change the practice, particularly as the current government says it promotes transparency.
Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, said, “Most tenders lack detailed estimates. Including these details is essential for transparency, as they show the items being estimated, along with their rates and quantities. Without this information, tenders could be awarded to bidders who stand to benefit from the lack of transparency. I have also submitted a representation to the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi on the issue.”
Speaking to TNIE, a corporation official said, “We use a standard template and attach the work-specific details in the same document at the end. However, even these details are sometimes missed and might raise confusion among the bidders who come forward to bid as well. But this is a mistake arising from practical difficulties, which we will try to address.”
A senior corporation official acknowledged an error in the Ambattur zone tender and said the document would be revised and uploaded, with the bidding deadline extended by seven days.
