Impropriety alleged in Narayanpur dam gate project

Tender specifications changed to benefit one company: Plaint

A complaint has been filed with the Upalokayukta on irregularities in the tendering process for online management of gates at the Narayanapur dam site in Yadgir district on a turnkey basis.

The complainant, Kuldeep Kanna, also one of the bidders, stated that the then managing director of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd (KBJNL), Kapil Mohan, a senior IAS officer, and other officials had changed the tender specifications only to benefit a particular company.
The complaint has been filed against the executive engineer of KBJNL.

The online tender was called for the work ‘online continues volumetric discharge monitoring and water-accounting system in canal network till the tailend on a turnkey basis, including 60 months of comprehensive maintenance and training’. The qualification criterion was an experience of design of integrated canal management system involving a minimum 100 automated and remotely controlled gates, spread over not less than 60 km, using a wireless centralised computer-directed control using a software called SCADA.
The complainant stated that there were not many companies with this experience in the world.

“The company which has been awarded the tender - Mechatronics Systems Pvt Ltd - did not have the experience as stipulated in the qualification criteria. The company, in collusion with the officials of KBJNL, misrepresented the facts. The requisite qualification also included previous experience of GIS contracts of mapping and analysis from satellite images and field-level data collection and integration with SCADA in at least one contract of approximate value of Rs five crore within last five years. Since the company, which was awarded the contract, did not have these qualifications, the tender conditions were modified after the last date and after the tenders were floated.”

According to the complaint, the officials of KBJNL allowed the company to modify two main parts – Integrated Gates and GIS (Geographic Information System) – of the project. This modification resulted in a huge gain for the company and loss to the State exchequer.
“The company, which is awarded the work, appears to have already drawn nearly Rs 69 crore and has not completed the minimum work for want of proper designing. Though the period of contract had expired and extension time has also expired, the authorities are unnecessarily extending the time. It is also stated in the complaint that the whole process of awarding the tender was totally focused to help one company with illegal understanding between the company and the officials of KBJNL.

If the tender conditions had been modified before the last date, many other companies could have been qualified,” Upalokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi said.

The Upalokayukta has directed the executive engineer of KBJNL of Dam Division in Narayanapur in Yadgir district to submit the reply on November 23.