Arappor Iyakkam has asked the Coimbatore Corporation to act against corrupt contractors and officials and bring about transparency in administration.
The organisation’s convener Jayaram Venkatesan who addressed journalists on Tuesday after presenting a petition to Corporation Commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara on Monday said the demand to the civic body was to blacklist the contractors and suspend the officials who aided corruption.
In the petition, the organisation had alleged that the bidders to several tenders the Corporation had floated were those close to the then Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani. In at least 47 tenders, Mr. Velumani’s brother’s company Senthil & Co. and contractor Rajan Rathinasamy were bidders.
Bot the contractors had registered with the Corporation using a phone number and used the same IP address to bid online. Likewise, KCP Engineer Pvt. Ltd.’s Director Chandraprakash and the company were bidders in five tenders, he said.
To clean up the mess, the Corporation should blacklist the contractors and initiate department action against officials who aided the corrupt practice.
Calling for an end-to-end transparency in e-tenders, Mr. Venkatesan said the Corporation should bring about transparency in the tender system in such a way that public could access the tenders floated. At present, the details regarding tenders were tweaked to put public at a disadvantage.
The organisation also urged the Corporation to make public the details regarding works in progress in various wards and called for the formation of ward committees or area panchayats to effectively monitor the progress of works.
The Corporation should do away the process of clubbing various works in to a few tenders to create a big package of work. It should also take steps to recover the premises near the West Zone office in R.S. Puram that the Corporation had given by underwriting the rent to a trust run by the former Minister’s brother to run a civil service coaching academy.
After hearing to the 14 suggestions and complaints that the organisation had given, the Commissioner promised to work on those, he added.
