Former speaker and YCP leader Tammineni Sitaram is locked in allocation of a tender violating norms and regulations has surfaced now. In the assembly building built in Velagapudi during the TDP regime, microphones and digital audio systems were installed with the technology of a German company.
It was first set up by CRDA and managed for three years. At the end of that period, YCP came to power. Tenders were invited in October 2020 for the maintenance of the audio system, for which two companies were shortlisted in technical qualification. One of them is Atluri and Co. and the other is Swastik Communications.
As speaker, Sitharam had allotted the tender to the Swastik Communication, though it did not have prescribed three year experience and also it quoted more than the other company.
Atluri company has been managing assembly audio systems for a long time in the combined state. The same company is managing even today in the Telangana assembly. Swastik Communications mainly deals with CCTV cameras and intercom phones.
Jagathi Publications, owned by YCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy, is being managed by this company. The main requirement in this tender is to have three years of audio system management experience.
Exactly two months before this tender was called, Swastik got an order to set up an audio system in the video conferencing room at the governor’s office in Vijayawada. This experience was mentioned in the tender. Moreover, also attached another letter claiming that he had done some work in the YCP office in the past. However, three years of experience is not sufficient for the requirement.
Technical bid was opened in the assembly on 29th October 2020. Atluri was selected as L-1 and Swastik as L-2. The financial bid was also opened on the same day evening. Atluri company has quoted Rs.36 lakhs for the maintenance of the audio system for a year. Swastik said Rs.44 lakhs. There is a difference of Rs.8 lakhs between the two.
The audit department of the government that goes into these tenders issue, has reported to the present government mentioning the fact that the report stated that the reasons given for setting aside the low-priced company were not valid.
It has been clarified that by accepting the tender of Swastik Company, approximately Rs.18 lakhs of public money has been wasted in three years, and this waste would not have happened if the tender had been accepted by the company that had quoted a lower price.
The Assembly officials have sent a reply defending themselves against the audit objections. But they were not withdrawn by the audit department.
“If the assembly officials take a wrong decision, the speaker should correct it. But he wrote on the file justifying the decision. This is proof that he has a role in choosing the company they want against the rules,” the report said. After receiving complaints from the government officials, the authorities of the assembly are currently examining these files.