Hyderabad: BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha has fired a fresh salvo at the State government, urging Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to scrap the recent tenders floated for monsoon emergency works and instant repair teams under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
In a letter to the CM, Kavitha alleged that certain officials in the GHMC engineering department were tilting the playing field to benefit select companies at the expense of local contractors. She claimed the new tender norms were squeezing out BC contractors from Telangana by forcing them to source vehicles from a foreign company that had only two showrooms in the city.
“Those showroom managers are refusing to sign MoUs with local contractors. Even though our contractors got the paperwork from dealers in Karnataka, GHMC officials are demanding hard copies on short notice,” Kavitha wrote, adding that this was an unfair hurdle.
She also questioned the move to consolidate tenders for all 150 wards into just nine zones, arguing that this change was hurting small contractors in the state. “Previously, we had separate tenders for each ward, giving local players a fair shot. Now, with just nine zones, only the big fish will get a chance,” she said.
Highlighting practical issues, Kavitha pointed out that the specified vehicles couldn’t even carry a single cubic metre of material, while earlier trucks used to haul two to three cubic metres. “This new rule is tailor-made for one company and a couple of contractors — and it’s going to cost the exchequer an extra Rs 5.85 crore a year,” she charged.
Kavitha demanded the immediate cancellation of the tenders and called for a return to the old ward-wise system, which she said would benefit around 150 local contractors. She also urged the Chief Minister, who directly oversees the municipal department, to look into the alleged irregularities and act swiftly.
