IMPHAL, June 8: The All Tribal Student’s Union Manipur has warned the State government against anomalies in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY).
Addressing a press conference at the Nagaram office of the union, spokesperson Micha Kamei said ATSUM will never remain silent on the issue and will resort to intense agitations in the entire hill districts of the State, until the government address the issue.
According to the CPWD work manual 2007 which was published by the director general of works, CPWD, there are certain rules and regulations for tendering, through competitive bidding for all projects, he said.
The rates in the Marketed Surplus Ratio, Rural Road (MSR-RR) mostly reflect the current market rates. Since the budget of these projects are limited, the engineers try their best to maximise the fund received, meaning most of the rates of items are minimised so these projects are prepared to cost at the lowest rate, he continued.
Micah said that the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) are prepared by each Project Implementation Units (PIU) of each district following the rates given in the MSR (Rural Road) for the current year.
Elaborating further, the spokesperson said, the PMGSY projects are now in phase IX, while phase X is on board for tendering.
However things have not gone well in Manipur with the onset of phase-VIII due to the fact that bids for works are made at minus rate, he continued.
He said that the accepted norm in regard to tender and its evaluation process is to follow the guidelines laid down by CPWD in its work manuals published in 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 etc.
It is clearly given that bids in the range of plus/minus 5% are acceptable, whereas those above below plus/minus 5% to 10% are to be justified with detailed price analysis for all and every item by the bidder, Micah said.
As per the norms, any bid below or above plus/minus 10% are to be rejected except for exceptional cases in certain work site where situation demands. But these cases are only for those above 10% of the estimated rate, he asserted.
Surprisingly, Manipur State Rural Road Development Agency (MSRRDA) has once again deviated from the central public works department norms, while inviting tender from intending contractors for execution of works under PMGSY Phase IX, Micah said.
It is obvious that any developmental works carried out in the hills cannot maintain the standard of quality due to multifarious reasons besides transportation charge, he alleged.
He said that despite the fact that a substantial amount of funds are earmarked for smooth implementation in the targeted areas, the government doesn’t bother to do anything for a bound flesh, he lamented.
The Standard Bidding Documents (SBD) which permits the contractors to apply at minus rate is nothing, but a scheme to siphon huge sum of money to the State coffer at the expense of the belittled and regressed hill people, he claimed.
The MSR being lower than market rates besides inflation of the cost of materials, any contractor who execute under this nefarious scheme of thing are bound to work at loss and no one will be willing to work if there is no profit, Micah reacted.
“Therefore, PMGSY-IX phase which had been E-tendered at minus rate should be invalidated. It is in the interest of all the denizens to re-tender at plus rate as per the guidelines of the CPWD. Deliberate violation of the objective of this scheme will bring social anarchy,” he demanded.