Transport Minister Senthil Balaji on Monday denied irregularities in the awarding of contract for a GPS-driven bus ticketing system in State transport corporation buses.
Replying to a special mention raised by the DMK, CPI (M), CPI and Puthiya Tamizhagam, Mr. Balaji said there was no truth in DMK leader M.K. Stalin’s allegation that the Rs. 200-crore contract was awarded to a consortium headed by a company incorporated on the day the tenders were floated.
Citing a newspaper report, Mr. Stalin alleged that the contract was awarded to a company which had no prior experience in manufacturing the GPS-driven ticketing system.
The Minister said companies with expertise in the field formed a consortium among themselves and submitted tenders for the project. For the GPS-based ticketing system, a total of four consortiums submitted tenders and they were evaluated through a live demonstration in buses on February 18 and 25 and one consortium was eliminated in the process.
Finally, Mr. Balaji said, the contract was awarded to the consortium led by Hyderabad Ingenerie Technologies Solutions, which had quoted 13.43 paise per ticket. It agreed to bring down the price to 13.40 paise following a request from the Tender Award Committee and the letter for awarding contract was given on February 28 by the Pallavan Transport Consultancy Services (PTCS).
“The contract was decided by the Tender Scrutiny Committee and the Tender Award Committee and the newspaper has alleged irregularities without going into the details. Mr. Stalin has just parroted the report,” Mr. Balaji said.
He said a defamation case would be filed against the newspaper’s reporter, editor and publisher after getting the Chief Minister’s permission.
