CE vows strong action against corrupt engineers

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 19: PWD Chief Engineer Chongtham Bishwachandra has vowed strong actions against engineers of the department who are found involved in corrupt and graft practices.
The All Manipur PWD Contractors Association organised a reception function in honour of newly appointed PWD Chief Engineer Chongtham Bishwachandra at the department’s jubilee hall today.
Addressing the reception function which was attended by many contractors and engineers including All Manipur PWD Contractors Association president Laishram Guni, PWD Additional Chief Engineer-I Dr Ngangom Senior, Additional Chief Engineer-II K Rubee and All Tribal Contractors’ Association vice president Angam Pamei, Bishwachandra said that many local contractors are not getting contract works because the CPWD manual was drafted based on the requirements of advanced States and it is hard to be implemented in Manipur.  
The situation is such that local contractors may not get any contract work after some years. As such, the department has been working to amend the CPWD manual and upgrade local contractors, the Chief Engineer said.
Local contractors, if they are special contractors, would be authorised to execute road construction works of estimated costs of up to Rs 10 crore.
Considering the limited number of contractors engaged in construction of buildings, the condition “experience in construction of 4-5 storeyed buildings”  has been removed, Bishwachandra said.
Certain conditions have been modified for construction of bridges too, he said.
After implementation of the amended terms and conditions for at least five years, there will be many local contractors capable of executing mega contract works, the Chief Engineer said.
Noting the practice of certain engineers withholding files of contract works at the time of releasing bills  just because the contractors do not grease their palms, the Chief Engineers urged contractors to inform him directly if they come across such unethical practice.
He assured that necessary action would be taken up immediately.
He also warned contractors against compromising quality of works after bidding for the same works below the estimated costs.
Bidding for contract works below the estimated costs cannot be prohibited because there is no rule against bidding below the estimated costs.
However, the quality of works cannot be compromised after bidding for the works below the estimated costs, Bishwachandra said.
When the quality of work is compromised, it is not only the contractors who are at fault, the supervising engineers are also equally culpable, he said.
The Chief Engineer also appealed to contractors not to come to the department for lobbying.
Saying that all contract works would be awarded through open tenders, the Chief Engineer asserted that there is no need for contractors to lobby for movement of files.
He added that due process will be followed as per rules.