Even as an attempt to revive the controversial e-tender has come under the scanner of Chief Officer, Narayan Sawant, eyebrows are raised why certain interests are hell bent in reviving the tender when nothing stops the civic body from re-tendering the developmental works.
It’s now 10 months since the civic body had floated the e-tender in September last, only to be mired in controversy, after the PWD confirmed duplication of a couple of development works.
Sources said that despite the Municipal taxation section making it clear that the tender has lapsed since work could not be executed within 90 days, a section of city fathers are trying their best to revive the tender by referring the matter to the Principal Chief Engineer.
The incumbent Chief Officer has sought all details from the municipal technical section before he signs the letter to the PWD for opinion.
Sources in the MMC said that they are treading a cautious path on the e-tender given the repeated attempts made by vested interests to get the green signal despite the expiry of the 90 days. “It is surprising that no one is demanding the re-tender of the developmental works till date when the process to float a fresh tender would not have consumed much time,” remarked an official.
Incidentally, officials said the government has set a bad precedent by not referring the e-tender file for a vigilance probe when it’s now clear that the civic body had tendered duplicated works. “Instead of a probe by an independent body, the government had asked the then chief officer to conduct a probe. What was more shocking was that the government did not deem fit to order a probe when the DMA asked the chief officer to execute the works which were not duplicated and re-tender the duplicate ones.” the civic official observed.
