HC to hear on August 2 plea for bifurcating project on laying undersea OFC

In its petition, the TEMA has argued that the Telecom Ministry and the BSNL are ignoring Indian entrepreneurs

Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India (TEMA) has brought the issue of laying undersea optical fibre cable (OFC) link between Kochi and Lakshadweep, before the Delhi High Court.

It has sought directions from the government to bifurcate the Rs1,072 crore tender to connect mainland Kochi to 11 islands of Lakshadweep into two parts so that domestic companies can take part in it.

The matter is scheduled to be heard on Monday.

In its petition, the TEMA has argued that the Telecom Ministry and the BSNL, which is implementing the project, are ignoring Indian entrepreneurs from bidding by incorporating certain conditions which could not be fulfilled by Indian or domestic entrepreneurs.

In its plea, the TEMA has said that the tender does not fulfil the basic guidelines issued by the Government of India for Aatmanirbar Bharat to give maximum opportunities to Indian or domestic parties.

It contends that the KLI project which involved installation of ‘Repeaters’ in the undersea OFC after every 100-110 km, is not only an old or outdated technology but also involves higher cost to the project.

This technology is not being preferred worldwide now. Moreover, it puts an additional financial burden on the public exchequer, a fact which has been ignored by the BSNL, it said.

If any domestic bidder is unable to fulfil the criteria fixed by BSNL, the project could be split in segments. Indian bidders, who could fulfil the terms and conditions of that particular segment, should be preferred over the foreign bidder, it said.

In case any Indian bidder cannot fulfil the conditions of particular segment, that segment should be offered to a foreign bidder. Unless such projects are not offered to Indian parties, the government’s goal of Aatmanirbar Bharat cannot be achieved, it said.