Posing a volley of questions on the GPS-ticketing machine contract for Rs.200 crore awarded to an ineligible consortium by the ADMK regime, DMK President Kalaignar asked whether the Chief Minister or the minister concerned would give replies to them and establish their credentials.
In his epistle to Party cadre on April 2, Kalaignar said that people were witnessing since 2011, allegations against state ministers reported in dailies, the Chief Minister pretending to take action and keeping them away and permitting some wrong-doing ministers to continue for ‘some’ ‘important’ reason without taking any action, Many such wrong-doing ministers had been removed from the cabinet. “Although I was getting complaints against many ministers, only to avoid making any personal allegation I was even skipping the writing of question-answer column for the past few weeks. But, in spite of several complaints against the Transport Minster so far no action had been taken by the high command”, Kalaignar said and listed some reports already published in dailies.
Kamatchi Periyasamy alias Gokul was the adopted son of Ramalingam- Deivanai couple from Periyakulaththu palayam, Karur Vengamedu. He studies in Hindustan College, Coimbatore and worked in a call centre. While studying he loved Gowri Santhini of Coimbatore and married her. After the death of Ramalaingam, Deivanai was living with their adopted son Gokul. She owned 3.5 acre ancestral land worth several crore rupees on Karur-Salem bypass road. On June 3,2011,Gokul was kidnapped by a gang in car when he started for Karur from Coimbatore. It was learnt that the gang administered liquor to Gokul, obtained his signatures on blank papers and took possession of the land. Gokul lodged a complaint with Karur district crime branch police on September 19,2011 following which the police filed a case against Natarajan, Karuppannan, Prabhu, Periyasamy and Mohan Raj. Thereafter no enquiry was conducted.
In his deposition before Karur court last January 5, Gokul had said that he was kidnapped on June 3, 2011 and Minister Senthil Balaji’s younger brother Ashok came. He rang up to the Minister and gave the receiver to him. The Minister who was on the line abused him as an orphan and threatened to kill him by pouring acid if he did not behave according to his (Minister’s) dictate. They kept him locked in a place and tortured him for two weeks. They took him to the office of Sub Registrar, obtained his signatures under threat and registered a sale deed in their names but did not give him any money. After giving this deposition the whereabouts of Gokul is not known and whether he is alive or dead is also not known.
Although Gokul mentioned the names of the Minister and his younger brother in his deposition, the police did not include their names in the case. DMK executive committee member and lawyer Maniraj had filed a petition in Karur court for the inclusion of their names. The case was being heard but the fate of Gokul was not known. It was said that the ruling partymen were trying to foil the case by threatening with power. There had been no response from the government on this allegation against the Minister Senthil Balaji. “It is this person subjected to such allegation who has questioned the capability of DMK legislative party leader Thalapathi M.K.Stalin”, Kalaignar said.
There was another report in dailies that an auto-rickshaw painted in ADMK colours without number plate and the name of this same Transport Minister inscribed on it was roaming around Erode and transport department officials were unable to take any action. Even for that there was no response from the government.
An interview of BJP Tamil Nadu State President Pon. Radhakrishnan appeared in dailies on March12. In that interview he had alleged that “a gang was involved in manufacturing of spurious liquor in Karur and there were links between this gang and those who were arrested in arrack case four years back. They were alleged to be manufacturing spurious brandy, whisky etc. besides brewing arrack. The doubts of locales of link between this gang and Minister Senthil Balaji could not be ignored. The State government should pay attention to this matter.” Did the government pay attention to this? Is there not a responsibility for the government to explain and clear doubts over the report linking the minister with the illicit liquor gang?
All these were reports in dailies appeared some weeks back. But there was a banner report in ‘The Times of India’ on March 28, which was as below:-
“The award of a contract for India’s biggest GPS-driven bus ticketing system, introduced by the Tamil Nadu state transport department, has raised allegations of irregularities.
Pallavan Transport Consultancy Services (PTCS), an agency under the transport department, has awarded the Rs 200-crore project to a consortium headed by a company incorporated the day the tender was floated. It has neither experience in manufacturing the ticketing machine nor does it have the required net worth, going by information on the Registrar of Companies (RoC) website.
The tender was given to the consortium on a build-operate-own-transfer basis. It is to install a system in buses for electronic ticketing machines that are GPS compatible or for GPRS-enabled hand-held devices that send signals to the service provider every time a ticket is issued to a passenger, enabling live tracking and accounting. The consortium gets 0.134 paise per ticket issued, which means a daily income of more than Rs 20,000 if it is introduced across 21,500 buses of the eight TN state-run transport corporations that sell more than 1.5 crore tickets every day. The arrangement would last five years.
Documents available with Times of India show that while the tender notification stipulates a minimum of three years experience for the main bidder, the consortium that won the contract is led by a company called Ingenerie Technologies Solutions which was incorporated the day the tender was floated on January 24, 2013. Till then, the company was called Mango Health Care Solutions. PTCS had postponed the tender date twice, first from December 31, 2012 to January 18, 2013, and then to January 24.
The tender norms insist that the bidding consortium should have a net worth of Rs 25 crore, with the lead member accounting for 60% of it. Going by the RoC website, the company’s net worth (as shown under the name of Mango Health Care Solutions) was less than Rs 8 lakh in the last financial year (2011-12), instead of the required Rs 15 crore.
Sources said that an evaluation committee that includes officials from the state finance department had pointed out some deficiencies, but the deal went through anyway. “It was found that some of the attached documents submitted by the bidder were handwritten, which is against rules. Also, the evaluation committee had made some notes on the ineligibility of the company,” said a senior official in the loop.
A couple of bidders who didn’t get the contract have complained to PTCS that two of the three members of the winning consortium - Abhi Bus and Analogics - were either blacklisted or found as defaulters in connection with previous projects in the transport sector. Abhi Bus was accused of failure in transferring money as part of an online ticket booking system into the Uttar Pradesh State Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) account. “
As such a detailed report about a department of the government had appeared in leading English daily, Stalin had asked in the Assembly on the same day (March28) government’s response about it. But as he was not permitted to speak about this in the House the DMK members staged a walkout. After a very long time later, they had expunged the remarks made by DMK from the minutes of the House. “If what the ADMK regime had done is correct, could not the explanation they offered yesterday ( April 1) be told on that day (March 28) itself? Why should permission be refused to even speak? Four days after the publication of that report in that daily, the Minister explains. Why this delay? Will not the people doubt in various ways about this delay?” Kalaignar asked.
Somehow, a big allegation against the government had appeared in that daily and they had published it on the basis of documents in their possession. The government should give explanation in the appropriate manner, and it is not fair to file defamation case against them also. As the government is filing defamation cases for everything and cripple those who point out mistakes, various wrongs of the government do not come to light. “If it is a honest regime, it is duty bound to suitably reply the charges and it is not good to file case and threaten”.
Not only the DMK but also the CPM, CPI and Puthiya Tamilagam party members raised an issue over an allegation appearing in the first page of a national daily, the responsible Minister should only give reply and not telling “no capability”, “they are making allegation here holding a daily news report like the character Dharumi in the film Thiruvilaiyadal claiming the lyric written by somebody as his and demanding prize” and “allegation written by some virus” etc. is not in the capacity of a Minister. This will also not help to preserve the dignity of the House”, Kalaignar said.
There are reports in some dailies that the Minister said “If Dhakshinamurthy changes name as Karunanidhi birth trait will not change”. From this itself the capacity of the Minister could be understood by the people of the state”, Kalaignar said.
“Finally, only one explanation needed from the Minister! The Minister admits that the contract was awarded to Ingenerie Technologies Solutions. When was this company started? When was the contract awarded? Why the tender condition of three years’ experience ignored? But the Minister says that the company was functioning in some other name. If it was functioning in some other name why the tender was not asked in that name? Why the condition laid by the government was relaxed? Will the Minister or the Chief Minister reply these questions? And establish their credentials?” Kalaignar asked.
In his epistle to Party cadre on April 2, Kalaignar said that people were witnessing since 2011, allegations against state ministers reported in dailies, the Chief Minister pretending to take action and keeping them away and permitting some wrong-doing ministers to continue for ‘some’ ‘important’ reason without taking any action, Many such wrong-doing ministers had been removed from the cabinet. “Although I was getting complaints against many ministers, only to avoid making any personal allegation I was even skipping the writing of question-answer column for the past few weeks. But, in spite of several complaints against the Transport Minster so far no action had been taken by the high command”, Kalaignar said and listed some reports already published in dailies.
Kamatchi Periyasamy alias Gokul was the adopted son of Ramalingam- Deivanai couple from Periyakulaththu palayam, Karur Vengamedu. He studies in Hindustan College, Coimbatore and worked in a call centre. While studying he loved Gowri Santhini of Coimbatore and married her. After the death of Ramalaingam, Deivanai was living with their adopted son Gokul. She owned 3.5 acre ancestral land worth several crore rupees on Karur-Salem bypass road. On June 3,2011,Gokul was kidnapped by a gang in car when he started for Karur from Coimbatore. It was learnt that the gang administered liquor to Gokul, obtained his signatures on blank papers and took possession of the land. Gokul lodged a complaint with Karur district crime branch police on September 19,2011 following which the police filed a case against Natarajan, Karuppannan, Prabhu, Periyasamy and Mohan Raj. Thereafter no enquiry was conducted.
In his deposition before Karur court last January 5, Gokul had said that he was kidnapped on June 3, 2011 and Minister Senthil Balaji’s younger brother Ashok came. He rang up to the Minister and gave the receiver to him. The Minister who was on the line abused him as an orphan and threatened to kill him by pouring acid if he did not behave according to his (Minister’s) dictate. They kept him locked in a place and tortured him for two weeks. They took him to the office of Sub Registrar, obtained his signatures under threat and registered a sale deed in their names but did not give him any money. After giving this deposition the whereabouts of Gokul is not known and whether he is alive or dead is also not known.
Although Gokul mentioned the names of the Minister and his younger brother in his deposition, the police did not include their names in the case. DMK executive committee member and lawyer Maniraj had filed a petition in Karur court for the inclusion of their names. The case was being heard but the fate of Gokul was not known. It was said that the ruling partymen were trying to foil the case by threatening with power. There had been no response from the government on this allegation against the Minister Senthil Balaji. “It is this person subjected to such allegation who has questioned the capability of DMK legislative party leader Thalapathi M.K.Stalin”, Kalaignar said.
There was another report in dailies that an auto-rickshaw painted in ADMK colours without number plate and the name of this same Transport Minister inscribed on it was roaming around Erode and transport department officials were unable to take any action. Even for that there was no response from the government.
An interview of BJP Tamil Nadu State President Pon. Radhakrishnan appeared in dailies on March12. In that interview he had alleged that “a gang was involved in manufacturing of spurious liquor in Karur and there were links between this gang and those who were arrested in arrack case four years back. They were alleged to be manufacturing spurious brandy, whisky etc. besides brewing arrack. The doubts of locales of link between this gang and Minister Senthil Balaji could not be ignored. The State government should pay attention to this matter.” Did the government pay attention to this? Is there not a responsibility for the government to explain and clear doubts over the report linking the minister with the illicit liquor gang?
All these were reports in dailies appeared some weeks back. But there was a banner report in ‘The Times of India’ on March 28, which was as below:-
“The award of a contract for India’s biggest GPS-driven bus ticketing system, introduced by the Tamil Nadu state transport department, has raised allegations of irregularities.
Pallavan Transport Consultancy Services (PTCS), an agency under the transport department, has awarded the Rs 200-crore project to a consortium headed by a company incorporated the day the tender was floated. It has neither experience in manufacturing the ticketing machine nor does it have the required net worth, going by information on the Registrar of Companies (RoC) website.
The tender was given to the consortium on a build-operate-own-transfer basis. It is to install a system in buses for electronic ticketing machines that are GPS compatible or for GPRS-enabled hand-held devices that send signals to the service provider every time a ticket is issued to a passenger, enabling live tracking and accounting. The consortium gets 0.134 paise per ticket issued, which means a daily income of more than Rs 20,000 if it is introduced across 21,500 buses of the eight TN state-run transport corporations that sell more than 1.5 crore tickets every day. The arrangement would last five years.
Documents available with Times of India show that while the tender notification stipulates a minimum of three years experience for the main bidder, the consortium that won the contract is led by a company called Ingenerie Technologies Solutions which was incorporated the day the tender was floated on January 24, 2013. Till then, the company was called Mango Health Care Solutions. PTCS had postponed the tender date twice, first from December 31, 2012 to January 18, 2013, and then to January 24.
The tender norms insist that the bidding consortium should have a net worth of Rs 25 crore, with the lead member accounting for 60% of it. Going by the RoC website, the company’s net worth (as shown under the name of Mango Health Care Solutions) was less than Rs 8 lakh in the last financial year (2011-12), instead of the required Rs 15 crore.
Sources said that an evaluation committee that includes officials from the state finance department had pointed out some deficiencies, but the deal went through anyway. “It was found that some of the attached documents submitted by the bidder were handwritten, which is against rules. Also, the evaluation committee had made some notes on the ineligibility of the company,” said a senior official in the loop.
A couple of bidders who didn’t get the contract have complained to PTCS that two of the three members of the winning consortium - Abhi Bus and Analogics - were either blacklisted or found as defaulters in connection with previous projects in the transport sector. Abhi Bus was accused of failure in transferring money as part of an online ticket booking system into the Uttar Pradesh State Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) account. “
As such a detailed report about a department of the government had appeared in leading English daily, Stalin had asked in the Assembly on the same day (March28) government’s response about it. But as he was not permitted to speak about this in the House the DMK members staged a walkout. After a very long time later, they had expunged the remarks made by DMK from the minutes of the House. “If what the ADMK regime had done is correct, could not the explanation they offered yesterday ( April 1) be told on that day (March 28) itself? Why should permission be refused to even speak? Four days after the publication of that report in that daily, the Minister explains. Why this delay? Will not the people doubt in various ways about this delay?” Kalaignar asked.
Somehow, a big allegation against the government had appeared in that daily and they had published it on the basis of documents in their possession. The government should give explanation in the appropriate manner, and it is not fair to file defamation case against them also. As the government is filing defamation cases for everything and cripple those who point out mistakes, various wrongs of the government do not come to light. “If it is a honest regime, it is duty bound to suitably reply the charges and it is not good to file case and threaten”.
Not only the DMK but also the CPM, CPI and Puthiya Tamilagam party members raised an issue over an allegation appearing in the first page of a national daily, the responsible Minister should only give reply and not telling “no capability”, “they are making allegation here holding a daily news report like the character Dharumi in the film Thiruvilaiyadal claiming the lyric written by somebody as his and demanding prize” and “allegation written by some virus” etc. is not in the capacity of a Minister. This will also not help to preserve the dignity of the House”, Kalaignar said.
There are reports in some dailies that the Minister said “If Dhakshinamurthy changes name as Karunanidhi birth trait will not change”. From this itself the capacity of the Minister could be understood by the people of the state”, Kalaignar said.
“Finally, only one explanation needed from the Minister! The Minister admits that the contract was awarded to Ingenerie Technologies Solutions. When was this company started? When was the contract awarded? Why the tender condition of three years’ experience ignored? But the Minister says that the company was functioning in some other name. If it was functioning in some other name why the tender was not asked in that name? Why the condition laid by the government was relaxed? Will the Minister or the Chief Minister reply these questions? And establish their credentials?” Kalaignar asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment