The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : No change in tender deadline: Ponnala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 22, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

No change in tender deadline: Ponnala

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, NOV. 21. The State Government has turned down the demand of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for extending the deadline for filing fresh irrigation tenders, saying that the court has not found fault with the seven-day period to empanel contractors.

The TDP, which demanded a 30-day period, was politicising the issue, as it was not interested in expediting the projects, Major Irrigation Minister, Ponnala Laxmaiah, told reporters here on Sunday.

He said the court had only asked the Government to go ahead with a fresh notification for tenders by extending to all bidders the relaxation given to some contractors in the matter of ISO certification and registration within the State. The court never intervened with the time limit.

`Seven days enough'

The Minister held that seven days was sufficient to verify the annual turnover of bidding companies or their net worth, the eligibility criteria for Category-I contractors.

Mr. Laxmaiah termed irresponsible the demand of Telugu Desam leaders to recover Rs. 500 crores given as advance to contractors. He clarified that only Rs. 27 crores was given to three contractors against work done for an equal number of packages in the Sriramsagar flood-flow canal project.

The money was released against bank guarantee and could be recovered any time. "It is no donation to them," he added.

`TD distorting facts'

TDP leaders ran a disinformation campaign against the Government by distorting court directions. The court had, in fact, upheld both actions of the Government -- implementation of Engineering-Procurement-Contract (EPC) system and shortlisting of contractors. The court did not find necessary to set aside the entire process.

Referring to the TDP's criticism that the Government invited tenders for the Pulichintala project without obtaining environmental clearance, Mr. Laxmaiah recalled that tenders were first called in February and the Congress Government had only completed a pending process.

He said all contractors, including those who could not be selected when the first notification was issued, could now participate in the tendering if they fulfilled the parameters.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh