Times
of India: Nainital: Monday, 09 February 2015.
Uttarakhand government
in 2013 awarded contracts worth more than Rs 20 crore to a blacklisted public
sector construction company, the reply to a RTI query filed by Haldwani-based
activist Gurvinder Singh Chaddha has revealed.
The state had
boycotted the services of Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN) earlier in
2012 after several reports were lodged complaining of irregularities in
projects handled by the firm from UP. However, it seems government officials
are unaware of the decision.
"The
company has been blacklisted four or five times, but as far as I know, they
have been permitted to complete the pending works," said Naneet Pandey,
additional director of urban development directorate.
In 2012,
UPRNN had been awarded contracts worth Rs 1.86 crore by Dehradun, Haridwar and
Haldwani-Kathgodam municipal corporations to construct state-of-the-art
restrooms in these locations. Later on, it was awarded another contract worth
Rs 21.5 crore for construction work at Dr Sushila Tiwari Medical College in
Haldwani.
These
contracts are in violation of a government order dated April 24, 2012, banning
all services from the firm.
Dr R C
Purohit, principal of the medical college in Haldwani said all such decisions
are taken by the administration and he is not involved in the process, while
officials at Haldwani-Kathgodam municipal corporation claimed to be ignorant of
the company's services being boycotted three years ago.
UPRNN
officials, meanwhile, denied being blacklisted. "As far as I know, we are
no longer blacklisted. If that would have been the case, the Uttarakhand
government would not have been awarding us contracts. There must have been some
confusion," said D C Bhatt, assistant engineer, UPRNN and in-charge of the
construction work at Dr Sushila Tiwari Medical College.
.JPG)
.JPG)
