SHILLONG:
Chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Central Scheme Monitoring Committee (CSMC) AL Hek on September 11 sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the alleged irregularity in the award of contracts by the Meghalaya government for the construction of the new Assembly building.
Hek in his letter to the PM alleged the unholy coalition between Uttar Pradesh Nirman Nigam Limited and Badri Rai Company Ltd has caused great damage to the state, and urged him to institute an inquiry into the matter.
“It has not only brought ignominy but also a huge amount of loss to the state exchequer. Therefore, I earnestly request you to take urgent action by initiating a high level inquiry to unearth the root of this contentious coalition,” he said.
The Pynthorumkhrah legislator said that the findings of Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati clearly states that the dome of the under-construction Meghalaya Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in the New Shillong Township collapsed on May 22, 2022 due to its dead weight and lack of coordination between the designers and the contractors working on the project.
Stating that the collapse of the dome has brought immense embarrassment and shame to the state, he also apprised the PM in his letter of the questionable bidding process that took place for the construction of the new Meghalaya Assembly building.
Hek said initially during the bidding process, Assam-based Badri Rai Company was disqualified after technical evaluation, as the company did not have prior experience of constructing a dome and failed to have the minimum criteria of Bank Solvency Certificate/Overdraft facilities/Credit Limit issued from Nationalized Bank of at least 20 per cent of estimated cost of the project put to tender.
The contract was then awarded to Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited, who further subcontracted the project to the same Badri Rai Company Ltd, who was rejected in the initial bidding process on multiple grounds, he added.