SHILLONG: Power Minister James Sangma said on Wednesday the tendering process for the Centre’s Saubhagya scheme is not complete and allegations that the government did it in a hurry were baseless.
“It is our priority to ensure that we meet the deadline that has been set for us,” said Sangma in defence.
The state government was accused of hurriedly completing the tendering process for the central electricity scheme worth several crores of rupees. It is alleged that only eight days were given for submitting the tender and that included weekends and Gandhi Jayanti.
The tender was called on September 26 and the opening of bids will be on October 4.
The Saubhagya scheme is to provide electricity to all households by December 31 this year. The financial package for Khasi and Jaintia Hills is Rs 187 crore and for Garo Hills it is Rs 196 crore.
Another allegation is that the bid document was favourable to two parties from outside the state, Satnam Global Infraprojects Ltd, Delhi and Patel Engineering, Delhi. In the tender qualification criteria, the stakes are too high and none of the local contractors from Meghalaya qualified.
