The Union Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has written to State Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology Department, to advise Tamil Nadu Fibrenet Corporation Limited (TANFINET) “not to hasten” the opening of tenders for the ₹1,950-crore BharatNet project without its clearance.

The communication came hours before the tenders were to be opened and finalised for the fibre optic work project on Friday.

The Centre is inquiring into the alleged non-compliance of Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, in the floating of the tenders and its specifications. The issue was flagged by Arappor Iyakkam, a Chennai-based anti-corruption movement.

Conditions tweaked

Last month, the DPIIT had called for an urgent report on the serious allegations levelled by Arappor Iyakkam on the tender process. The issue pertained to violation of the tender conditions by increasing the turnover, experience and tweaking configuration of routers to suit two specific companies and thereby eliminating competition through the issue of a corrigendum to the tender floated by TANFINET and the IT Department on April 15.

Replies to be examined

On Friday, the DPIIT wrote to the IT Secretary stating that the replies of TANFINET was yet to be examined and commented upon by the Department of Communications.

“TANFINET tried closing and finalising the ₹1,950-crore tender today itself. This was clearly in violation of the Union Government’s orders. We had sent a complaint in April and two reminders. Minutes before the tenders were due to be closed, the DPIIT intervened and stopped the process,” Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan said.

He said that except for the router condition, most other restrictive conditions were not withdrawn by the State Government and Arappor Iyakkam would continue to fight to cancel the changes in the tender made to shut out Indian suppliers and thereby favour foreign companies, he added.