Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

DMK, AIADMK clash over tender cancellation

By K. Manikandan

CHENNAI FEB. 1. The DMK and the AIADMK clashed over the cancellation of tender process for road works at a meeting of the Tambaram Municipal Council on Friday.

The trouble began when the chairman, S.R. Raja (DMK), told the council that the local body decided not to go ahead with awarding of eight works to the lowest bidder in view of the "track record" of the contractor. "He has not completed any of the work entrusted to him in the past", Mr Raja said adding that a majority of the councillors had given in writing that the work orders should not be issued to the contractor.

However, the AIADMK councillors alleged that the decision followed the bidder's refusal to "part with a share of the project cost", as demanded by the DMK councillors. The contractor had been forced to approach the High Court and he obtained a stay on the re-notification.

The AIADMK members pulled up the DMK for, what they called, putting the public interest on the back burner by cancelling the orders. The DMK members reacted and challenged the AIADMK councillors to substantiate their charges.

At its previous meeting held last month, the municipality debated on awarding of contracts for eight works, including repair works on Muthurangam Street, road-laying works on Albert Ponnusamy and V.V.Koil streets among others.

The chairman said it was well within the powers of the municipality to annul the tender process. He said the High Court had granted a stay only for the re-notification of tenders. After nearly an hour of charges and counter-charges, the Council decided to take steps for vacating the court's stay order.

Mr. Raja regretted that the members of the AIADMK were adopting a "confrontationist approach", to which they replied that it was the chairman's stance that forced them to argue in that manner.

The meeting also deliberated on the deposit amount to be collected from residents for the under-ground drainage project. While it was proposed to hike the charges to Rs. 7,500 from the present rate of Rs. 6,000, even members belonging to the ruling DMK questioned the rationale behind the proposal. They said the initial sum was Rs. 5,000 and increased by Rs. 1,000. So, a further hike would not be justifiable.

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