Officials of Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs summoned
SHILLONG: The Public Accounts Committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly has summoned officials of the departments of Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs after anomalies were detected in the finalization of a tender related to procurement of sugar for distribution under the PDS. The tender which should have been finalized within four months was prolonged for a year.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, PAC member Ronnie V. Lyngdoh said, “The PAC was surprised to learn that it took a year for the department to finalise the tender leading to excess expenditure of Rs 12 crore that the State government had to pay due to the delay in taking the decision.”
Interestingly the PAC found that the quoted rate of the lowest bidder had been rejected.
“The PAC found that the bid of the lowest bidder, who quoted the rate at Rs 37.50 per kg of sugar, was rejected while another bidder who had quoted Rs 42.50 was given the green signal,” Lyngdoh said.
He added that on being called to explain the anomaly the department informed the PAC members that it had taken a year to finalise the tender which forced the lowest bidder to withdraw.
In this regard the PAC asked the department for explanation on what led to the anomaly, Lyngdoh said, adding, “Normally departments invite tender to get competitive rates and in this case it is surprising as to the reason why the lowest bidder was rejected.”
Lyngdoh noted that after some course of time, the consumers were asked to pay Rs 20 per kg of sugar – that is an additional rate of Rs 6.50 – which is quite reasonable as the rate of sugar in the open market is Rs 44 per kg.
Pointing that the department re-invited the tender, Lyngdoh said, “During the re-invited tender the lowest bidder quoted the price at Rs 52 while sugar is available in the open market at Rs 44.”
“In this case the PAC will not accept the tender to be finalized and we directed the department to look into the problem and to ensure that sugar is available to the people at the lowest rate,” he said.
He added that the department could not give a satisfactory reply as to the delay in finalizing the tender depriving people of the benefit of sugar at subsidized rates.
Speaking on the issue, PAC Chairman Paul Lyngdoh said the State government has wasted over Rs 20 crores due to the delay in taking a decision to opt for suppliers with less quoted rates.
The PAC, in the meantime, has directed the department to speed up the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).