State justifies Maytas contract

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, June 9: The state government has justified its action before the AP High Court in awarding civil works at Relief and Rehabilitation Centres of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi project in Kadapa district to Maytas Infra Ltd on nomination basis.

Earlier, the court directed the government not to make payment for any works executed by the Maytas infra, relating to execution R.R. Centers under GNSS Phase-I in Kadapa district.

The court also directed the authorities not to enter into any contracts on nomination basis and asked the principal secretary of the panchayat raj department to file an affidavit on the issue.

The court issued an interim order, while dealing with a petition filed by Mr K. Ramesh Reddy challenging the action of the government in awarding works to the Maytas by observing that the method of awarding contracts on nomination basis has the potential of encouraging nepotism.

The government in its reply said the works were awarded to the company as there was no response for the tender notifications issued on two occasions to allot the works.

The government informed the court that to avoid delay in the execution of R and R works, the district collector was permitted to entrust the works to the EPC contractors (Maytas), which was handling the main project.

The argued that the decision was taken only to avoid price escalation.

The government contended that there was no violation of any mandate and no preferential treatment was given to the company.

The government brought to the notice of the court that most of the works had been completed.

In view of the interim order, the civil works which are in final stages have been stopped and it is severely hampering the main project works, said the government. It requested the court to vacate the stay.