E-Paper
Transportation of mid-day meals: PUNSUP changes tender rules
After AAP came to power, he Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (PUNSUP) has finally changed the rules for tenders of transportation of mid-day meals, which is likely to end monopoly of two Cong leaders of Moga
After the AAP government came to power, Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (PUNSUP) has finally changed the rules for tenders of transportation of mid-day meals, which is likely to end the monopoly of two Congress leaders of Moga.
The department has ended the condition of experience which allows freshers to participate in the tender allotment procedures.
The aspirant contractors were demanding to end the condition of experience from the past many years.
Before the change in rules, Moga was the only district which had a condition of experience. The PUNSUP has invited fresh tenders for transportation of mid-day meals to schools from godowns of foodgrain agencies.
Among the Congress leaders, one is the husband of a Congress councillor while the wife of the second leader lost the Moga municipal corporation elections last year. There are a total six blocks in Moga and contracts of all these blocks had been going to Congress leaders for the last 10 years.
The condition of three-year experience was making other contractors ineligible for tenders. Therefore, there was no competition in procuring the contracts.
A contractor, pleading anonymity, said, “I had contracts for the transportation of foodgrain in grain markets where the total amount of tenders goes beyond crores. However, despite such a high amount, there is no condition of experience. Meanwhile, the total amounts of tenders in mid-day meal hardly go up to ₹10 lakh, but there was a condition of three-year experience. Both these tenders have been allotted by PUNSUP.”
Parminder Singh, district manager of PUNSUP, said, “These contractors are getting contracts long before my joining here in 2017. We have ended the condition of experience to bring uniformity in rules across the state and to get competition in tender allotment.”
Dissimilarity in rules in state
Contrary to the district manager’s claim of uniformity in rules, there are dissimilarities in the conditions of tenders in the districts. These dissimilarities include submission of token and security amounts.
According to the department, in Patiala the contractors have to deposit ₹50,000 as token money and ₹1 lakh as security amount per block while in Ludhiana, the contractors are required to submit ₹10,000 as token money and ₹1 lakh as security. These districts don’t have any conditions of experience.
On the other hand, in Moga, it is mandatory for contractors to submit ₹50,000 as token money and ₹2 lakh as security to participate in the tender allotment procedure.
Anoop Sharma, general manager of the department, said, “There is dissimilarity in rules because the rules for tender allotment were made according to the economic viability of blocks in districts. And all rules are passed with the permission of the department.”
