MCC suspends officials who flouted tender norms

Mangaluru: An assistant engineer and a draftsman of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) have been suspended for violating tender rules regarding the appointment of a security agency to man its various offices.
MCC commissioner Akshy Sridhar told TOI that employees assistant engineer Rajesh Kumar and draftsman Pushparaj have been suspended for dereliction of duty.The suspension has happened at a time when contractors have alleged that work contract rules are often flouted and they often face bribe demands. Recently a contractor, who had alleged that former minister KS Eshwarappa demanded 40% commission as a bribe, was found dead.
“We had invited tenders from manpower consultancies for the security of all our buildings in the city. A police verification certificate from the respective city police is a mandatory criterion for the agency that appoints security personnel to the city corporation. However, the agency that won the bid did not have a valid police verification certificate. Though the officials knew about this mandate, the officials hid the fact during the scrutiny process. Hence, I issued an order suspending the officials on Monday,” the commissioner said.
He added that the tender had been cancelled.
MCC council opposition leader AC Vinayaraj said the city corporation had floated the tenders for security guards for its Surathkal, Shivabagh and Mangaluru zones. “Initially, a Bengaluru-based agency was awarded the contract to supply manpower in two packages. The same agency also had applied for the third package. During the scrutiny of the third package, the city corporation found that the agency was technically not eligible to supply manpower to guard offices. The city corporation has suspended two officials, but the question still remains unanswered as to how senior officials passed the two tenders without going through the documents thoroughly. They are responsible for the mess,” he said.