Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has landed in a controversy, this time due to the dubious role of Works Secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan in the tender process of the much-touted Gurupriya bridge and subsequently, for substandard construction works resulting in collapse of three pillars of the bridge in April last.
Notably, Chief Minister Patnaik holds the Works portfolio and department Secretary Pradhan works under his direct supervision.
What has become a bone of contention is Pradhan, in a letter dated 31.10.2015 vide letter number 12462 addressed to Ministry of Home Affairs (left Wing Extremism) Additional Secretary Jaydeep Govinda, while seeking financial support had stated that the Chief Minister had “accepted” the tender for the Gurupriya bridge.
But as per Odisha Public Works Department (OPWD) Code, the Chief Minister never “accepts” any tender but only approves of the same. It is only the Engineer-in-Chief (EIC)-cum-Works Secretary who can accept the tender worth more than Rs 10 crore.
As per the same OPWD guidelines, those who “accept” the tender are accountable for any type of damage (technical, extension of time, price escalation, deviation, improper supervision or collapse during project execution). Hence, the collapse of three pillars of the much sensitive Gurupriya bridge in April has dragged the Chief Minister automatically into a legal row.
“The Secretary while asking for the balance fund wrote that the lowest tender was accepted by the Chief Minister which is not only derogative but also violates the Rules of Business and Parliamentary practices on the part of a Government servants,” said a retired Works Secretary.
“The move of the Works Secretary is only to defame the Chief Minister. He must be taken to task without any further delay,” he demanded.
The Works Secretary not only defied the Chief Minister, but also did not heed to local Chitrakonda MlA Dambaru Sisa who in December last wrote a letter to Pradhan, apprehending collapse of the bridge due to poor construction and substandard use of materials. Surprisingly, just five months after his concern, three pillars caved in raising suspicion about the work culture.
The construction of the long-awaited 900-metre-long Gurupriya bridge had in fact a roller-coaster ride. It was conceptualised in 1980 but due to the persistent Maoist threat, no contractor was agreeing to execute the work. Finally, however, the construction of the bridge started in September, 2014 with an agreement value of Rs 173 crore, which was 65.74 per cent excess of the State Government’s estimated cost of Rs 115.80 crore, by Calcutta-based Royal Infraconstruction limited.
Sources said the track record of Pradhan as the Works Secretary is not satisfactory. The collapse of Jatamundia-Subarmapur bridge over the Mahanadi at Banki, Netapur bridge at Puri and Gurupriya bridge and also a segmented bridge connecting Rengali-Brajarajnagar road confirms this.
Unfortunately, the Government without imposing penalty or taking legal action against the errant contractor allowed them to reconstruct the collapsed part, raising further eyebrows.