Assam Speaker to form panel to probe tender irregularities

Guwahati, March 25: Assam Assembly Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi on Wednesday said he will constitute a House Committee to examine alleged irregularities in inviting tenders from contractors by the Public Works Department.

"I will set up an Assembly Committee to see the irregularities," Gogoi said during the Question Hour.

He was responding to a debate and allegation by the opposition AGP, BJP and AIUDF over alleged irregularities in the state PWD.

"There are different types of irregularities. Contractors inflate the tender and they do work. In many cases, they bid with lower rates than the base price. If someone is bidding with a lower rate than the fixed price, then obviously he will do an inferior work," Gogoi said.

He said even in his constituency such problems have cropped up and he blacklisted a few contractors for such acts.

"After blacklisting a contractor, another problem persists that none else turns up to do that work," the Speaker said.

He also informed that many contractors take up lots of work simultaneously but failed to deliver a single one on time.

Raising a question earlier, BJP MLA Manoranjan Das brought to the House's notice that contractors bid the tenders at lower prices of the fixed rate and eventually they get the work.

His party colleague Prasanta Phukan, AGP MLA Keshab Mahanta and AIUDF MLA Gopi Nath Das also cited examples of irregularities in their respective constituencies.

PTI