Shillong: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, Alexander Laloo Hek has petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to institute an inquiry into the process of awarding the contract for the construction of the Meghalaya Assembly building and the subsequent collapse of its dome.
In his letter, Hek sought Modi’s urgent attention to the “brazen irregularity” in the contract awarding process by the state government for the construction of the new Assembly building in the New Shillong Township at Mawdiangdiang.
“As the incident of dome collapse has brought immense embarrassment and shame to the state, I want to take this opportunity to apprise you of the questionable bidding process that took place for the construction of the new Meghalaya Assembly building,” Hek, who is also a member of the BJP’s Central Executive Committee, noted in his letter.
Stating that Assam-based Badri Rai Company Ltd was disqualified during the bidding process after the technical evaluation, Hek said it did not have prior experience in constructing a dome and failed to have the minimum criteria of bank solvency certificate/ overdraft facilities/ credit limit issued from a nationalised bank of at least 20 per cent of the estimated cost of the project put to tender.
“The contract was then awarded to Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited, which subcontracted the project to the same company that was rejected in the initial bidding process on multiple grounds,” Hek pointed out.
