Congress leader Manna comes out with a video

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, March 2

Congress leader Mandeep Singh Manna has come out with a video purportedly showing Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi’s brother Raja Joshi finalising rates of tenders and other details with contractors before allocation of the same. Manna has accused them of constituting a pool of contractors to award the tender to their favourite firm.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Manna demanded inquiry to uncover influence of Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi and his family members in allocating tenders. He demanded that contractors involved in pooling must be blacklisted.

He claimed that the video showed that Raja Joshi was conducting a meeting of contractors at historic Ram Bagh and even deciding rates of tenders. He said at a point he also threatened old contractors to intimidate them so that his favourites could get tenders smoothly.

Manna claimed that this was the reason behind many experienced contractors staying away from the tendering process of the Amritsar Improvement Trust, which was conducted recently. He added that comparative study of rates cited in previous and present tenders would bring out the wide gap.

This politician-contractor nexus was depriving the government of its due, he added. He alleged that dates of a tender were also postponed many times, pointing a finger of doubt.

While rebutting the allegations of Manna through an email, Raja Joshi said these were politically motivated to malign the image ahead of the Assembly election.

He added that a union of contractors had approached the Local Bodies Minister with their problems. He said, “However, owing to his ill health the minister earmarked the duty to attend to their grievances to me. I was just passing the instructions of the minister.”