Scrap tender to buy AC pipes, proposes PH Dept
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 15
Revisiting its own order, the Public Health Department today recommended the scrapping of the tender to buy asbestos (AC) pipes for rural Haryana. It has been forwarded to Minister of State Ghanshyam Saraf for approval.
The Tribune highlighted last week that six years after these were discontinued, AC pipes were being reintroduced in Haryana in rural areas given the government’s “budgetary constraints and their low cost compared to DI pipes currently being used. The tenders for AC pipes that opened last month had been technically scrutinised. The high-powered purchase committee was to take a call on the tenders at its next meeting.
Sources said the proposal to scrap the tender was moved by the Engineer-in-Chief of the department. This has been approved by Additional Principal Secretary Alok Nigam and sent to the minister.
Eyebrows were being raised about the reintroduction of pipes in Haryana since the government was going ahead with various formalities associated with the allotment of a tender despite getting repeated complaints. The complaints alleged that the department was procuring AC pipes instead of superior DI pipes owing to a ‘nexus’.
AC pipes were discontinued in 2010 during the previous Congress regime after a committee of experts drawn from various departments concluded that DI pipes were better. A committee constituted by the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana, too, gave its verdict in favour of DI pipes.
Based on field reports from its staff, the committee suggested that while these could adversely impact health given the frequent leakages due to breakage, it proposed that the government should have this recommendation reviewed at a higher level.
