LIT officials accused of favouritism

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, October 23

The e-tender invited by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) for supplying and installation of open air gym worth around Rs 1.5 crore in Ludhiana West and Ludhiana East Assembly segments has come under a scanner. Some of the intending bidders have alleged that the entire process has been rigged.

Ramesh Nayyar, a government contractor, in his complaint to the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the Local Government Department, has accused the LIT’s Engineering Branch officials of favouring a particular contractor.

Nayyar alleged that the short time frame for offering bids shows dubious intentions of the LIT officials. He said, “The e-tender notice (No. 13-E) is related to road works in various colonies of the Trust, electrical work and supply and installation of open air gym equipment. The e-tender was to be uploaded on October 16. However, the tender document was signed by the officer concerned (Trust Engineer) on October 19 and documents were uploaded on October 20. The bids for open air gym have been invited till October 24 and date of opening tenders is October 25.”

He said, “The LIT officials forgot that October 20 and 21 will be non-working days because of weekend. The Trust office as well as the banks will stay closed on October 24 (the last date for receipt of bids) due to Valmiki Jayanti.”

He said, “As a result, contractors are left with little time to prepare bid documents, deposit earnest money and make queries.”

He said, “What kind of urgency is there for supplying open air gym equipment as just four days have been given to submit bids whereas 10 to 21 days have been allotted to submit bids for other works in the same e-tender.’ The LIT official said the date for submission of bids would be extended by a week. “A corrigendum to this affect will be uploaded on e-tendering website,” he said.