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Thursday, Dec 13, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Heated debate over purchase of tractors

Staff Reporter

Municipal Corporation offficials pulled up for not following guidelines

Ten tractors purchased without permission of council
Curbs sought on movement of heavy vehicles

Kakinada: A heated discussion on placing of an indent for 10 tractors allegedly without getting it approved either by the council or the Standing Committee, consumed most of the time in Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) meeting held here on Wednesday but there was no satisfactory reply from the officials concerned, who failed to substantiate their claims that the stipulated procedures were scrupulously followed.

As municipal commissioner A Sivakoti Prasad and his officers could not give proper explanation to what led to the bungle, the councillors sought the purchase orders placed with HMT Limited, to be cancelled and corrective action to be taken. Mayor K Saroja then warned the officials that she would not tolerate such irresponsibility in the future.

Soon after the council assembled D Lakshman Rao of the Congress raised the issue and demanded explanation from the Commissioner but the latter replied that the superintending engineer (SE) had the permission from the Government to clear the proposal without referring it to the council or Standing Committee.

However, the SE could not explain why there was a variation in the prices contained in a quotation shown by him and another one got by a councillor and what made him place the indent with a dealer outside Kakinada when qualified dealers exist in the city. In the first place, tenders should have been called to select the lowest bidder.

Cutting across party lines, the councillors accused the SE of making excess payments to make personal benefit. They sought to know what prevented him (SE) from violating the rules which obviously require such major purchases to be cleared by the council or Standing Committee.

Ultimately, the Mayor let off the officials by warning them to not violate procedures in future, failing which she would be compelled to recommend departmental action to be taken against them.

G Nageswara Rao of CPM complained to the Mayor that some roads in Gandhinagar and Ramaraopeta were getting damaged due to the plying of trucks hired by Reliance and some other big industries, which were carrying loads up to 40 tons whereas the roads were designed for loads not exceeding 10 tons. Urgent action is required to be taken as the roads would become large pits. The Mayor ordered the commissioner to take up the matter with Traffic Advisory Committee and restrict the movement of the heavy vehicles.

Protocol violation

In the course of a verbal duel that broke out later over the alleged violation of protocol during the Red Cross Yoga Centre’s inaugural function in the city recently, councillor Lakshman Rao commented that: ``in matters pertaining to KMC, the Mayor is supreme but not the District Collector”, at whose behest the programme was said to have been altered in the eleventh hour.

His contention was that the Mayor was deliberately sidelined in the inaugural function. Instead of the Mayor, it was Kakinada MLA Mutha Gopalakrishna, who presided over the function. Moreover, the names of all the 50 councillors were left out from the plaque. Rao himself who is the ward councillor, was not invited.

TDP floor leader RVJR Kumar chipped in with remarks that the government had no respect for the civic body, not to mention the disdainful manner in which the TDP councillors were treated during the Chief Minister’s recent visit. The civic officials were also negligent in discharging their duties.

The meeting calmed down with the Mayor’s assurance that the names of all councillors would be carved out on two separate plaques and installed by the side of the one unveiled by the Governor.

Deputy Mayor A Srinivasa Rao and others were present.

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