CHENNAI: Tender release at 9 am, deadline at 3 pm, bidding window 6 hours. A tender floated by the Rural Development Department for the construction of a 30,000-litre overhead water tank at Karappettai village in Kancheepuram district on Tuesday triggered a controversy over the short bidding window, prompting the authorities to swiftly cancel it citing administrative reasons.
The contract worth Rs 16.83 lakh was announced at 9 am on May 19, scheduled to close at 3 pm, and the bids were to be opened at 4 pm on the same day. Screenshots of the details of the tender from the portal went viral on social media, triggering criticism over the manner in which the process was being conducted by the newly elected TVK government, which came to power promising a change from the Dravidian parties that ruled the State for close to six decades.
Several social media users tagged Rural Development and Water Resources Minister N Anand, questioning the transparency of the process. Anand, considered the second-ranking leader in the Cabinet after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, was allotted the Rural Development and Water Resources portfolios on Saturday and assumed charge on Monday.
Screenshots of the tender went viral on social media, triggering criticism over the manner in which the process was being conducted by the newly elected government
Following the backlash, the tender notification was cancelled citing administrative reasons.
Highlighting the issue, activist Radhakrishnan, part of Arappor Iyakkam, urged Chief Minister Vijay to initiate legal measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents. The Tamil Nadu Tender Rules should be followed strictly, all work orders be uploaded online, and officials violating the rules be punished.
The latest tender controversy came close on the heels of the Greater Chennai Corporation floating six separate, limited tenders on May 15, worth nearly Rs 3 crore, for excavator rentals, giving contractors less than 24 hours to apply. After it drew allegations of favouritism and inflated pricing, with many pointing out that the rent fixed for excavators were much more than the actual purchase price of the machine, the corporation had to cancel the tender and suspend an executive engineer.