CHENNAI: Arappor Iyakkam on Thursday lodged a DVAC complaint alleging corruption involving minister V Senthil Balaji and Tangedco officials in awarding contracts for procuring transformers between 2021 and 2023 resulting in a loss of Rs 397 crore to the power utility. The NGO said the bidders who received the contracts had quoted the same amount which is much higher than the market value.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, the NGO said the scrutiny committee should have recognised the impossibility of multiple bidders quoting the same rate and rejected the bids. Instead, the committee negotiated with the bidders and split the orders equally among them.
“We have analysed approximately 10 tenders for the supply of 45,800 distribution transformers, with a total value of `1,182 crore. It was discovered that most bidders had coordinated to quote predetermined prices for the tender. The Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act specifies that the tender process should remain confidential until completion, as determined by the tender inviting authority,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of the NGO.
The bidders and public servants seemed to have colluded as it is highly impossible for over 30 bidders independently submit identical bids.
The complaint accused the then power minister Senthil Balaji, Rajesh Lakhoni (chairman cum managing director of Tangedco) and V Kasi (Tangedco’s financial controller) in the issue and wanted the DVAC to probe the case. The NGO alleged that Kasi had played a key role in awarding the tenders and he was previously suspended from Tangedco on September 9, 2020, by former chairman Pankaj Kumar Bansal for acting against public interest.
Tangedco had issued a notice to compulsorily retire him, but he was reinstated on June 6, 2021, without proper board approval, Jayaram Venkatesan alleged. When contacted for comments, a senior Tangedco official said there is no wrongdoing and they just went by the best of the quotes received for tenders.