Suvendu writes to Governor alleging corruption in West Bengal grievance cell tender
Jul 28, 2023
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 28 : Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Friday wrote to Governor CV Ananda Bose seeking an investigation by a central agency into an alleged scam in the disbursement of a tender for the operation of a public grievance redressal campaign by the West Bengal government.
"This is total corruption, the way on record corruption took place and tender document has been changed. It (Tender) was with our IT department and CM gave it to their own home department...It was a CM grievance cell tender...They had incorporated a clause to the RAP (tender document) which was required to transfer it to their own people... Earlier tender was for Rs 120 crores now they've given it to their prefered company for Rs 150 crores," says Adhikari on alleged Tender Corruption.
The Letter of Opposition requested the Governor "to kindly take appropriate measures" to "unearth the unethical and corrupt deals" made by the Mamata Banerjee government in the tender process.
Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Cooperation Limited (WBEIDCL) had on August 5, 2022 placed a Request for Proposal (RFP) for setting up a dedicated call centre for monitoring of the Program Implementation and Grievance Cell by floating a tender process in wich three companies participated: BLS International Services Limited, Cyfuture India Pvt. Ltd. and V Con Integrated Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Adhikari alleged that though the bid by Cyfuture India Pvt. Ltd. was accepted then, the tender process was cancelled "due to some mysterious Administrative reasons". However, later on, on January 3, Webel Technology Limited, which falls under the administrative control of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms which is headed by the Chief Minister herself, floated a tender for the same purpose.
Four companies had participated in the tender process, in which Cyfuture and V Con had participated in the earlier bidding. In this process, V Con's bid was accepted. In the previous bidding, V Con was placed at a lower position than Cyfuture, Adhikari alleged.
"It won't be an exaggeration to say that an eligible candidate was shown the door and a candidate whose credentials were not better than the one shown the exit door was retained...," Adhikari wrote.
However, V Con was retained only till the Financial Bid were opened and Vision Plus Security Control Pvt. Ltd finally received the order.
Adhikari alleged that Vision Plus is "somewhat associated with an political consultancy firm which micromanages the daily affairs and political activities of the Trinamool Congress Party."
The LoP further alleged that the "Help Line Number used in the "Sorasori Mukyamantri" campaign was earlier used by I-PAC during the "Didi Ke Bolo" campaign of the Trinamool Congress."
"It needs to be thoroughly investigated by an appropriate Central Agency to get to the bottom of this Scam which manipulates the Tender Process of Government Departments," Adhikari wrote.
"These are not minor transgressions but significant manipulation which changes the outcome rather manoeuvres the Tender process in order to lead to a predecided outcome," he added in the letter.