Rs 800-cr projects allotted via single bidding: Sidhu

Chandigarh : The state government has detected that projects worth more than Rs800 crore were allotted through single bidding in the Municipal Corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, said Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. It is illegal to allot projects through single bidding. “The state has 167 local bodies, besides Improvement Trusts. I have been sounded of bigger lapses in financial management elsewhere too. I am getting every project allocation verified, even in the smallest of towns. A report in this connection is being prepared. It will be submitted to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and action will be taken to cleanse the system,” Sidhu told the media here today. To a query on the Chief Minister’s statement that he would not mark a Vigilance inquiry into alleged tax evasion of Rs684 crore by Fastway Transmission Private Limited, he said: “I am preparing a report on the anomalies by Fastway after Congress MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa raised a question in the Assembly.” The minister further said he would send a detailed reply to the CM based on feedback from at least 250 Junior Engineers (JEs) in the state. “Except Zirakpur, the cable company violated rules by not taking permission for laying cables anywhere else in the state. Permission wasn’t taken from the PWD, Railways or local bodies concerned.”