Assembly dome collapse: Opp slams MDA Govt for failing to take action against illegal connivance of contractors

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 20, 2022

The opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on Tuesday slammed the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government for its failure to take action against the alleged “illegal connivance” between the contractors of the under-construction new Assembly building.

In a letter to the Minister in-charge PWD (Buildings) Dasakhiat Lamare, AITC national spokesperson Saket S Gokhale said that the entire incident clearly reeks of not only shocking irregularities but an attempt to cheat the Govt and people of Meghalaya by illegal connivance between the contractors in clear violation of all rules.

“What’s even more shocking is that the Govt of Meghalaya has not only failed to detect this unholy nexus but has also not taken any action or instituted any probe to find out what type of illegal collaboration was going on between Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, Badri Rai and Company, and Shiva Enterprises and the reasons behind that,” he said.

Gokhale also requested the minister to come out clear on whether any action has been taken in this matter and said, “The collapse of the Assembly dome and the loss caused to the exchequer is a direct result of this illegal connivance.”

Quoting media reports, the AITC leader said it appears that the Government of Meghalaya is continuing to retain the same contractor even after the report submitted by IIT-Guwahati.

“This clearly means that the unholy nexus is going to continue and the people of Meghalaya need answers as to why this is being allowed. Your urgent response on this is eagerly anticipated and awaited,” he stated in the letter.

According to the bid documents for the tender floated in 2018, the bidders for the contract included M/s Bardi Rai and Company and Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd.

According to the Tender Bid Summary document issued on 21.02.2018, the contractor Badri Rai and Company was disqualified from being awarded the tender on the grounds that the company “did not fulfil the qualifying criteria of having successfully completed similar works during the last 7 years of key Government buildings with dome or similar architectural features”.

Therefore, the contractor Badri Rai and Company was disqualified in the technical evaluation specifically for not having any experience in building a similar government building with a dome.

Now, may it be noted at this stage that it is the dome of the new under-construction Meghalaya Assembly Building that collapsed in May 2022.

The other bidder for the new Meghalaya Assembly Building tender was a contractor called M/s Shiva Enterprise. This contractor was disqualified on the grounds that the contractor did not submit hard copies of the technical bid.

What follows is a shocking revelation of lack of monitoring and gross irregularity in the construction of the new Meghalaya Assembly Building.

The tender for the construction of the new Meghalaya Assembly Building was finally awarded to the bidder Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd.

Now, the website of the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd clearly states that the company does not sub-contract work to any other firm.

However, RTI findings revealed that the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd has subcontracted construction work of the new Meghalaya Assembly Building to BOTH disqualified contractors namely (a) Badri Rai and Company and (b) Shiva Enterprise, Gokhale said.

“It baffles the mind that the Govt of Meghalaya and PWD (Buildings) allowed Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd to blatantly and brazenly subcontract the construction work to 2 contractors who had been disqualified at the tender evaluation stage,” he said adding “This entirely defeats the purpose of a technical evaluation of a tender bid if disqualified contractors are eventually going to be subcontracted by the winning contractor.”

Badri Rai and Co and Shiva Enterprise had been disqualified from constructing the new Meghalaya Assembly Building.

“However, Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd ended up subcontracting work to these same disqualified contractors leading to the collapse of the dome of the building,” he alleged.

In his letter, Gokhale further asked was the PWD (Buildings) Dept aware that Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd had subcontracted construction work on the new Meghalaya Assembly Building to two disqualified contractors?

Was any audit or spot check carried out during the construction of the new Meghalaya Assembly Building by the PWD (Buildings) to examine who were the actual contractors working on the construction of the building?

He also asked after the report submitted by IIT-Guwahati on the collapse of the dome of the new Meghalaya Assembly Building, has the PWD (Buildings) department questioned Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd. as to how they sub-contracted work to two disqualified contractors.