Row over new condition for flood control works

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 14

Tenders floated by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department in the recent past have created a controversy. The department has floated tenders of about Rs 600 crore for wire created embankments along the rivers in the state for flood control measures. A condition in the tenders is intriguing.

The department has put an eligibility condition in the tenders that only those contractors who have earlier worked on 5 mm wire created embankments will be eligible to bid. This has caused resentment among companies working on wire created embankments in various parts of the state and Punjab, as it will make them ineligible to bid for tenders.

They allege that generally departments float tenders for creating embankments with 4 mm wire or even a more thick wire. The thickness of the wire as eligibility for contractors for tenders to create embankments is quite unusual, they say.

Surinder Sharma, a contractor, alleges that why can’t a contractor, who has created embankments with 4 mm wire, be eligible for creating embankments with 5 mm wire. Nobody can differentiate between a 4 mm and 5 mm embankment wire. The department has put this condition to eliminate competition and favour a few contractors, he adds.

Sources say that most of the contractors, who have worked on 5 mm wire created embankments, are those who have handled flood control works in the Swan river of Una district. The IPH Department started the work of 5 mm wire created embankments along the Swan, as per the guidelines of the Central Water Commission. However, later it was made a condition that only those contractors who had worked on 5 mm wire created embankments shall be eligible for bidding for flood control works. This left the field open for just a few contractors, who had worked on the Swan flood control works.

Senior Congress leader GS Bali says that he has demanded a high-level inquiry into the allotment of flood control works in the state to just a few contractors. “Nowhere else in the country the thickness of the wire is the eligibility criterion for bidding. The condition has been added to favour a few contractors and eliminate competition. The state has lost money by allotting works at escalated costs by adding this condition. The Congress seeks an inquiry into the scam,” he adds.

IPH Secretary Vikas Labroo says that he has sought a report in the matter from field-level officers. He assures that the issue will be looked into.

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