Irregularities in tenders for water projects: Congress

Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Thursday alleged that there were irregularities in the tendering process for piped water projects in Odisha and sought a reply from the State government. Addressing a press conference here, Odisha Congress campaign committee chairman Bijay Patnaik claimed that the government was ‘’preparing the tender document in such a way that Odia contractors become ineligible to get the work’’. Citing an RTI reply from the government of Odisha, Bijay said the administration had ‘’combined piped water supply projects of eight rural blocks in five districts under one package of tender and awarded the work to a non-Odia contractor’’.

The drinking water projects of Bhograi block of Balasore district, Bhandaripokhari of Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Champua, Jhumpura of Keonjhar, Satyabadi of Puri and Saintala and Titlagarh of Bolangir had been merged under single tender, he alleged.

If separate projects for various blocks had been designed, Odisha contractors would have been eligible for these, Bijay stated.

‘’Compared to the estimated cost of Rs 274.81 crore, the project was awarded to the contractor at Rs 327.30 crore,’’ he claimed. The Congress leader said the piped water project was initially planned to start in 2014 and to be completed in 2018. Now, the project cost has escalated to Rs 373.28 crore, he said.

Bijay urged the government to come up with a clarification on the design of the project tender and the reasons behind the cost escalation. ‘’Piped water supply projects worth Rs 35,000 crore have been taken up in Odisha so far, of which tenders worth Rs 34,000 crore have been awarded to non-Odisha contractors,’’ the Congress leader claimed.

The BJD leaders and government officials could not be contacted for comment.