Tripura govt trashes Congress allegations of scam in highway work allocation

The government clarified that NHIDCL is not a contractor but one of the agencies used by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for maintenance or development of National Highways.

On Sunday evening, former Tripura Pradesh Congress president Gopal Chandra Roy had accused Nitin Gadkari and Biplab Deb of direct involvement in “depriving” local PWD of work. (Express Photo by Praveen Jain/File)

The Tripura government has termed as baseless the opposition Congress’ allegation that there was a Rs 10,000-crore National Highway scam in the state. The Department of Information and Cultural Affairs late on Monday evening said the allegations were baseless and indicative of a complete lack of understanding and are far from the truth.

On Sunday evening, former Tripura Pradesh Congress president Gopal Chandra Roy had pointed fingers at the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and accused Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari and and Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb of direct involvement in “depriving” local PWD of work. At the press conference held at the state Congress office here, Roy cited an office note issued by Bhai Vijay Chibber, Advisor to the Chief Minister, on August 10 where he said he attended a meeting chaired by Gadkari at New Delhi. The meeting agreed on a host of decisions including the handing over of the 620.91-km stretch of national highways in Tripura to NHIDCL. A stretch of 229-km additional road length approved “in principle” as National Highway would also be handed over to NHIDCL, the meeting decided.

Roy alleged that this move deprived the state construction agency of funds and that too without a tender. Blaming Chibber for the deal, Roy claimed no negotiation is allowed for finalising any tender and unsolicited tenders for government works are not accepted in normal circumstances as per Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2017. He added that award of any work is mandated to undergo competition between all eligible PSUs or organisations as per General Financial Rules of the Ministry of Finance. Calling it the biggest scam in the history of Tripura, Roy demanded a CBI inquiry.

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The government clarified that NHIDCL is not a contractor but one of the agencies used by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for maintenance or development of National Highways. NHIDCL has been specifically mandated to develop National Highways in the NE region and border areas, it said. “Funds made available for maintenance of National Highways so far to PWD in the state has not been sufficient and PWD (National Highways) Division has found it difficult to maintain all the National Highway roads properly.”

The statement also claimed the decision was taken in the interest of the state as central government and NHIDCL will take direct and full responsibility of development and maintenance of National Highways in the state.