Faulty tenders cause heavy losses to municipality

Jogipet: The tender process for the allotment of commercial shops has become the talk of town these days as it violated all norms.

The process was held in the month of March for shops in municipal commercial complex. The process was continuously postponed due to lack of coordination between leaders and officials. The tenders for weekly markets of vegetables, goats and cattle were called only twice.

According to the people in the know of the development, no tender process has been followed for these markets for three years. By the allotment of these shops the municipality could earn only Rs 15 lakh each year. Thus, it lost Rs 45 lakh for the three years.

Surprisingly, this year, the tenders were floated in hurry as the tenure of the council was coming to an end. The tender process for the municipal commercial complex was held recently. Surprisingly, the rent for each shop differs with the other.

The ninth shop was allotted for Rs 6, 200 whereas its adjacent tenth shop was given for Rs 20, 500. It is alleged that the officials colluded with some people and allotted them at cheaper rates.

These calculations reveal that there is a loss of Rs 31 lakh for the municipality. The irregularities continued even in tender process of the weekly bazars. Last year, it fetched Rs 10 lakh and now the amount was only Rs 2, 99, 999, which means Rs 5 lakh less. Some of the shop owners have taken the issue to the District Collector. They also complained to him that outsiders were present during the process.