Panipat MC cancels de-silting tender, blacklists firm

After cancellation of the de-silting tender, the Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner has blacklisted the firm that took the contract on the basis of fake documents, and written to the headquarters to debar the company from other works too.

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The MC has also begun cleaning the drain after dividing it into four parts. It has hired four JCB machines and a poclain machine for the cleaning of drain No. 1.

The drain, which is choked with silt and garbage, flows from the middle of the city, and merges with drain No. 2, which leads to the Yamuna.

Dr Pankaj Yadav, Commissioner, said the drain would be cleaned by June 10 to prevent waterlogging in the low-lying areas of the city. “The firm that deposited fake documents for getting de-silting tender has been blacklisted,” he said.

The issue came to light after the owner of Lord Shiva Enterprises, Sonepat, lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister and senior officials, accusing an executive engineer of awarding the tender to an ineligible firm.

Taking cognisance of the complaint, the Municipal Commissioner has put the allocation of work on hold and directed Superintending Engineer Puneet Kumar to conduct an inquiry and verify all documents submitted by the firm.

“The preliminary investigation into the two documents — the experience certificate deposited by the company and the turnover certificate produced by the agency — were found fake,” the Commissioner said.

The tender, worth Rs 36 lakh, was allotted to Unique WindShield Glass for de-silting an 8-km stretch of the drain. The stretch is heavily choked with garbage, and the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has identified it as 'severely polluted'.