Mokokchung, 6 September (MTNews): The Nagaland Contractors’ & Suppliers’ Union (NCSU) has called for the ‘abeyance’ of the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for the PMGSY-III batch-1 2023-2024, citing concerns over anomalies in the current tender process.
The NCSU, representing contractors and suppliers in Nagaland, has raised questions about the allocation of projects and the practicality of awarding multiple contracts to a single firm within a short timeframe.
In their statement, the union highlighted the previous practice of inviting tenders on a project-by-project basis, ensuring that each project had a dedicated contractor. For instance, in 2017, 19 packages were tendered, resulting in 19 firms receiving work orders based on their bidding merits. Similarly, in 2019, 13 packages were tendered, with 13 firms being awarded work orders.
The NCSU demands that the projects should be broken up and segregated district-wise, as most districts have been clustered with others, which they feel, is practically not feasible.
“In the past, we have experienced that problems were faced in completing one project by one firm on time. How can one firm complete 4-5 projects within the scheduled timeframe? In such cases, this popular PMGSY program will be a total failure,” argued the NCSU.
Furthermore, the union stated that they submitted a representation to the Chief Minister of Nagaland on July 21, 2023, advocating for the allocation of one work order per firm for Phase-III of PMGSY, which includes 40 projects. However, despite their representation, the NCSU claims that the PMGSY branch proceeded to invite NIT for these projects, consolidating them into 16 packages on August 25, 2023, which they believe has “deprived many aggrieved qualified contractors.”
In light of these concerns, the Nagaland Contractors’ & Suppliers’ Union has called on the concerned department to suspend the NIT for Phase-III of PMGSY until the issues raised are rectified for further necessary action.