Blacklisted firm to supply meters to KPTCL

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE, JULY 9. The Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL), which blacklisted a company, has now selected it for supply of electricity meters.

In January this year, officials of the New Delhi-based Towers and Transformers Ltd. (TTL) were accused of bribing a KPTCL engineer with five gold coins. The company was one of 24 firms that had bid for a tender worth between Rs. 100 crores and Rs. 150 crores for the supply of high-quality meters to KPTCL.

At that time, the KPTCL Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. V.P. Baligar, had announced that TTL would be blacklisted and not allowed to participate in the tendering process.

Now, however, things have changed. A top KPTCL official told The Hindu that TTL was actually one of three firms selected to supply meters to the KPTCL. ``We have given letters of intent to three firms, including TTL,'' the official said.

TTL, along with Elimar, and VXL Landis and Gyr, will supply 5.6 lakh high-precision electro-mechanical meters to KPTCL. While Elimar will supply 60,000 meters, the other two will supply 2.5 lakh meters each.

The reason for selecting TTL is that the company is one of four firms to have passed the quality tests conducted by the Central Power Research Institute here. ``Out of the 24 companies that submitted the bids, only four passed the test,'' the KPTCL Director (Transmission), Mr. S. Shivamallu, told The Hindu.

Asked about the revocation of the earlier blacklisting, Mr. Shivamallu explained that this followed a State Government note asking the KPTCL to allow TTL's participation in the meter tender.

``It was pointed out that KPTCL had not given TTL an opportunity to represent its case. Besides, the KPTCL Board decided that the offence (alleged bribery) had not been proved, and the matter is still being investigated. Hence, TTL was permitted to participate in the tender,'' the official said.

Furthermore, if TTL approached the court for legal redress in the matter, the KPTCL's entire metering programme would be put on hold.

Mr. Baligar confirmed what Mr. Shivamallu said. ``The revocation of the blacklisting is subject to finalisation of the criminal case against the company,'' he added.

When Mr. Shivamallu was questioned about KPTCL's future policy in such matters, he pointed out that TTL's had been a specific case where the blacklisting had been done in a hurry. It could therefore, not be taken as a precedent.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : 11 killed as van collides with bus
Next     : Monsoon toll rises to 15