Khekiye K. Sema
CONTINUED-34
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]ower Department had thus far been working within the budget outlay like no other Departments in the State and I had no intention of being the first to start liability creation for the Department during my watch. The Minister’s sole argument was that it would foster ‘healthy competition’…a costly one. This was in flagrant violation of the GoI’s laid down “Turnkey” specification. It stipulated that contract be awarded to only one party for each package to ensure accountability in the supply of quality materials, the execution of work and replacement/ rectification of operational faults without additional cost to the department at the time of commissioning the project. It was equally unfair to include those who had participated in the tender bid but had failed to qualify… least of all, unethically include those who had not participated in the tender process at all………..
Before entering into the new episode, I would like to set right an incorrect information that was penned in the previous issue concerning the UEMB pilot project in Kohima. The name of the colony selected was Sepfuzou and not Kenuozou. This UEMB performed brilliantly to wipe out power theft from their colony, then. I wonder how they are doing now.
Having done the needful, now let me get down to the business of the day. The Department of Power was wrestling with a major centrally sponsored project under the supervisory intervention of the Ministry of Power, called the Accelerated Power Development & Reform Programme (APDRP) with a budget approximating Rs.39.50 crores, ( the exact amount does not register in my weary mind now) for extension and revamping the 33 KV and 11 KV transmission lines and for up grading the Sub-Stations. The whole exercise was aimed at reduction of transmission losses which was then above 55-58% in Nagaland, inclusive of loss by theft. The Ministry of Power, GoI had assigned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) to assist all the States in the formulation of the complex standard fixation, tender regulations and conditions for project implementation. The Nagaland wing of PGCIL was found dragging its feet when I joined the Department. A coordination meeting with them was promptly called to impress upon them the imperative for the formulation of the complex tender documents to be structured within a definitive time frame. After a determined pressurised hounding by the Department, PGCIL struggled for over four months and finally completed their assignment with the production of four thick volumes of tender documents that minutely dealt with each segment of work to be executed on a “Turnkey” basis. Tender notice was widely publicised in all the Local and National papers giving sufficient time for the Tenderers to prepare their bids according to the complicated specifications. On the first day of official opening of the Tender documents, we had a houseful of bidders in attendance along with their steel trunk load of backup tender documents for their personal references. The conference hall was looking more like a haphazard storage facility. Though Chief Engineer was solely responsible to scrutinise each tendered records to qualify or disqualify the bids, I decided to be there in the Directorate to chair the first tender opening and scrutiny session. It was important to set a strict screening standards. Bid after bids were rejected mercilessly for one or the other tender conditions not being fulfilled. Unfortunately this included the case of my own cousin brother Capt. Hekiye (S/o Late Dr. Hokishe Sema, former Chief Minister), … an unpleasant but a necessary responsibility of fairness having to be upheld. I lost a true cousin brother that day…who now only shares a cold distant smile when we meet once in a ‘blue moon’ which never occurs. He would never know the war I had fought in the aftermath to uphold the same yardstick of fairness that had hurt him. The Chief Engineer transparently followed through the rest of the cumbersome proceedings in the same spirit of fair strictness for the next couple of days. Not a single complaint was received. Successful tenders were then compiled and the proposal submitted to the Government. After convening a Purchase Board Committee meeting under my Chairmanship, with Chief Engineer and other mandatory Departmental representatives as members, the final processed file of recommendation was submitted to Shri. Tiameren, the Minister in-charge of the Department…then all hell broke loose! To each segment of works, packaged as A, B, C and D, he had not only added contracting firms who had participated and failed to qualify the tender bids but had included Firms who had not even tendered at all. Accepting the rate quotations of these rogue firms being attempted for inclusion would have resulted in an astronomical financial damage to the tune of about Rs.24.00 crores approximately, above the earmarked budget of Rs.39.50 crores. Power Department had thus far been working within the budget outlay like no other Departments in the State and I had no intention of being the first to start liability creation for the Department during my watch. The Minister’s sole argument was that it would foster ‘healthy competition’…a costly one. This was in flagrant violation of the GoI’s laid down “Turnkey” specification. It stipulated that contract be awarded to only one party for each package to ensure accountability in the supply of quality materials, the execution of work and replacement/ rectification of operational faults without additional cost to the department at the time of commissioning the project. It was equally unfair to include those who had participated in the tender bid but had failed to qualify… least of all, unethically include those who had not participated in the tender process at all. The department would have been swamped with the complaints from all the other Tenderers for unfair practice, since the whole process of selection was transparently carried out in their presence. Further, the issue of accountability would have gotten severally compromised the moment several parties get involved within the same segment of work and therefore, in view of all the reasons proffered, the Minister was requested to review his order. He not only insisted that his will be done but vitiated the atmosphere further by irrationally writing a complaint letter to the Secretary, Ministry of Power, GoI, accusing Er. S.I Longkumar, the Chief Engineer, Power, of acting with vested interest and recommending his removal from the Department…and to think that he was the Minister in charge in the State appealing to the GoI for the removal of an Officer of the State cadre under his direct charge. Mr. Tiameren must have misplaced his gray matter somewhere that day. Since this accusation was obnoxiously unfair and untrue, I did what I had to do to officially defend the integrity of the CE. The Ministry’s response was diplomatically simple…follow the laid down tender procedure. Rearmed with the Ministry’s views, the Department persisted with the request that the Minister Power consider rescinding his earlier order. He however, refused to budge. Push came down to shove. I refused to act on his order. The file was routed through Mr. R. S. Pandey, the Chief Secretary and then to the Chief Minister as per the Rules of Executive Business. Order came down that a fresh Purchase Board Committee be set up to review the issue all over again. The Chief Secretary had me called up to his chamber, more as a matter of curtsy perhaps, to review what he should do, knowing full well what I said would hardly matter. I only expressed a deep feeling of insult that the whole transparent process from beginning to the end without any vested interest whatsoever, was being put to question and added that if honesty was taken as the functional principle in conformity to the set rules and regulations, no matter what Committee was set up, the conclusion cannot but be the same… and to carry on with whatever action he deemed fit. The file later came down from the Chief Secretary, with an endorsement that a fresh Purchase Board Committee be constituted with Mr. Menokhol John, Jt. Secretary Finance, as the Chairman, Er. Shishak, Additional Chief Engineer, Power, as a technical member along with the other mandatory departmental representatives. Here was a subordinate team being set up to review the work of the original committee which was headed by their seniors…a classic example of a Government at work purely to serve the whims and fancies of the political bosses, right or wrong, with Mr. R.S.Pandey, the then Chief Secretary in the lead. The insult to injury was complete. Every time we allow legitimate stand of the department to be overrun by irrational political considerations, a questionable bureaucratic leadership at the helm exposes bureaucracy to take a severe beating and reduces it to a subservient status…catering to all the unreasonable and illegal demands of the political class. The sanctity of bureaucracy as a guide to the political class towards saner ethical behaviour has lost its relevance these days. With the passage of time in the same vein, officers daring the system will become a thing of the past. In fact the new mantra often heard in the corridor of power is that ‘those who have the authority but fails to use it for personal gains… are fools’.
Anyway, when this file was handed over to Mr. Menokhol John, as the new Chairman of the Purchase Board, he commented later that it was a hair raising experience, going through the noting in the file. Fortunately for the Department and unfortunately for Mr. Tiameren, there was a Cabinet reshuffle at about that same time due to downsizing, if I remember correctly, and he was dropped from the ministry. Mr. Imkong Imchen took over the reins of the Department. With this change of guard, Mr. Menokhol promptly returned this file to me with a broad smile of relief on his face. Since the full background was recorded in the note sheets, it was re-endorsed to the Minister with a mild request for review of the entire background. This was the first file Mr. I. Imchen had to deal with as he took over Power Department. The file was returned with the formation of the new Purchase Board Committee being overruled and the views of the department being fully acknowledged for implementation accordingly. APDRP project had finally found its feet.
The writer is a retired
IAS Officer, Forest Colony, Kohima.
