MARGAO
Will the recommendations made by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Vigilance in the alleged tender scam break the Councillor-Contractor-Engineer nexus and put an end to the Quotation raj in Margao Municipal Council?
This question has started doing the rounds in the corridors of Margao Municipality a day after the ACB Vigilance inquiry report-cum- recommendation nailed the prevailing system in the execution of tenders. Reason: The Margao Municipality had earned the dubious distinction over the years as works executed via quotations (without inviting tenders) had virtually become a norm than an exception in the civic body, draining the civic coffers in recent years.
Take note, the ACB inquiry initiated upon the directions of Goa Lokayukta pertaining to the works tendered by the civic body, had unearthed a host of discrepancies in the tendering process. Officials in the know, in private, say the misused quotation system should be immediately brought under the scanner as per the recommendations made by the ACB, Vigilance to check the gross misuse of the ‘Quotation’ system and to bring in transparency and accountability.
Allegations are rampant that unscrupulous councillors in league with corrupt officials and contractors, who had made the Municipal building their second home, had drained the tax payer’s money in the past by taking up works via quotations citing urgent situation and throwing the tendering process to the winds.
There have been instances wherein the estimated amount of works were deliberately shown below the Rs 50,000 ceiling to facilitate execution of the work via quotations to beat the tendering guidelines.
An official in the know said the Chief Officer in public interest directs the Municipal technical section to compile a list of the works executed in the last 10 years and the amount spent on these works through the quotations route and places the report in public domain.
“We had seen in the past how certain city fathers themselves doubled up as contractors and squeezed the civic body of lakhs of rupees in connivance with unscrupulous engineers. The ACB inquiry report has exposed the civic body for throwing basic norms of transparency to the winds”, conceded a civic official.
If the ACB report stumbled upon the fact that files of works carried out in the past were not available or maintained in the civic body, just imagine if any files have been maintained pertaining to works executed by inviting quotations.
The official added: “The quotation system was envisaged to take up urgent or emergency works within a time-frame. What we have observed over the years is that the councillor-engineer-contractor nexus had misused the provision, by getting three quotations and allotting the work to a lowest quotation via manipulation”.
Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes said not many quotations were called for by the civic body during his stint in the MMC. He, however, has promised to bring about transparency not only in the tendering process, but the quotation system as well.
FRESH GUIDELINES: ACCOUNTABILITY
& RESPONSIBILITY ON COUNCILLORS
MARGAO: The Director of Municipal Administration has issued fresh guidelines for undertaking various developmental works in the jurisdiction of Urban bodies, with a direction to the Chief Officers and Commissioner of CCP to ensure that every ward councillor proposing a particular work are accountable and responsible for the work.
Coming against the backdrop of the recommendations by the ACB, Vigilance probing the alleged Margao tender scam, the DMA Gurudas Pilarnekar has directed all the Chief Officers and the Commissioner of CCP, Panjim to follow the new set of guidelines.
Any proposal from councillors shall be proposed not merely based on sketches, but shall also have details like report of site, work being carried out previously, reasons behind the work.
Ever proposal for re-construction shall carry a detailed report with the extent of earlier works, year when the same was carried out etc with justification to the requirement of the present work.
Every work in the municipal area needs to be specific.
