HYC to file complaint with PAC over alleged irregularities in Housing Dept’s roofing sheet supply

Shillong, Sept 19: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Wednesday decided to file a formal complaint with the Assembly’s public accounts committee (PAC) against the alleged irregularities in the supply of Corrugated Aluminium Roofing Sheet by the Housing department of the state.

“This, incident involving the Housing Department in unilateral award of Supply Orders without public advertisements/notices, constitutes a significant deviation from established governance principles and also such a lapse underscores a systematic failure in governance that raises serious concern regarding transparency, accountability, responsiveness and the potential for corruption that requires urgent attention from the concern authority like the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and others,” HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said.

“We will be filing a formal complaint with the PAC in due course of time demanding for enquiry into the matter and for taking necessary corrective actions,” he added.

He said that through RTI Information it is found that the Director of Housing, Meghalaya, Shillong vide Notice Inviting Quotation (NIQ) dated Shillong, the 11th February, 2022 has invited quotation for the supply of ‘Corrugated Aluminium Roofing Sheet in AA3105H18 Alloy of 8 Feet Length, 800MM Width & 0.45MM thickness’ for an Approximate Tender value of Rs 20 crore.

The Departmental Tender Committee of the Housing Department held on 16th March, 2022, accepted the quoted rates of M/s Hariana Iron Works Pvt. Ltd @ Rs 17,989/- per bundle being the lowest quoted rate from other quotationers.

Thereafter, the Supply Order was issued on 18th March, 2022 for the supply of 11,118 bundles of roofing sheets for an Amount of Rs 20,00,01,702 only by the Director of Housing, Meghalaya, Shillong.

On 25th March, 2022, the Departmental Tender Committee of the Housing Department, on the proposal of the Director of Housing, Meghalaya, Shillong, decided to enhance the quantity of Aluminium roofing Sheets to 25,790 bundles i.e. an additional of 14,672 bundles to be supplied by the same Supplier and on 4th April, 2022, the Director of Housing, Meghalaya, Shillong, issued a Supply Order to M/s Hariana Iron Works Pvt. Ltd for an Amount of Rs 26,39,34,608.

“Without calling for any Fresh Tenders and in addition to Supply order of additional 14,672 bundles of roofing sheets above, the Director of Housing, Meghalaya, Shillong, had extended the Supply orders to M/s Hariana Iron Works Pvt. Ltd as follows:
1. Supply order dated Shillong, the 11th August, 2022 – Rs 69,64,98,608/-.
2. Supply order dated Shillong, the 2nd January, 2023 – Rs 23,22,37,990/-.
3. Supply order dated Shillong, the 5th September, 2023- Rs 49,72,15,960/-.
4. Supply order dated Shillong, the 6th February, 2024 – Rs 19,89,94,318/-,” he said.
Synrem also informed that the Departmental Tender Committee, Housing Department, along with the Director of Housing, Meghalaya, Shillong has unilaterally decided to issue Supply orders to M/s Hariana Iron Works Pvt. Ltd for an Amount of Rs. 188,88,81,484, without calling for any Tenders or quotations.

“The process of tendering for various works is done in order to bring in transparency in the allotment of such works, increase competitions and also saving public money/funds with allotment of works to the lowest bidder. It also helps in getting ‘value for works’ after analysing various quotations,” he said.

“However, in the present case, the absence of any tendering process for the supply works of such a huge amount have raise serious doubt on the transparency and integrity of the whole process,” he added.

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