The Greater Chennai Corporation found itself in the eye of a storm over alleged corruption in awarding tender to supply and install smart vending carts in Marina beach, with an NGO filing a complaint with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption charging that the contract was awarded to a firm owned by a ruling party functionary.
File photo of shop rearrangement at Marina
Chennai:
However, senior officials denied the allegation, maintaining that the civic body was only following the directions of the Madras High Court.
In his complaint to the DVAC, Arappor Iyakkam convener Jayaram Venkatesan alleged that the tender to procure 900 smart vending cart was fixed in such a way to benefit a particular firm.
“The Corporation officials connived with the AIADMK functionary to fix the tender for him. A series of amendments were made to the pre-qualification criteria to try and make the firm eligible for the tender,” he alleged.
The compliant also alleged that the tender has been awarded for Rs 17.2 crore, which is higher than the tender value of Rs 16.47 crore. “This is particularly important, as the other bidder, Air Systems Pvt Ltd, had quoted Rs. 16.4 crore. If the Corporation had allowed active competition, such loss to the exchequer would not happen,” he added.
However, when contacted, Corporation chief engineer (Buildings) S Rajendiran said that the tender has been given following the directions of the High Court.
“Initially, we have rejected all the bids, as they were not eligible. Later, the Madras High Court ordered to relax the criteria and award tenders to two bidders (450 carts each). But, Air Systems Pvt Ltd admitted in the court that they could not deliver the carts within the stipulated time and withdrew. So, tender was given to the remaining bidder by the order of the court,” he said.
He said that the civic body has all the documents and copies of judgements to corroborate its claims.
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