Adi Dravidar welfare directorate buys steam boilers for twice the market rate
Image used for representational purpose
CHENNAI: Why buy kitchen equipment for almost double the market price? The answer is perhaps best known to the Adi Dravidar welfare directorate, which apparently procured steam boilers for government hostels for ‘hygienic’ cooking for around RS 5 lakh a piece when the product with the same specifications was available in the market for half the cost.Government documents accessed by Express show that the directorate had been purchasing steam boilers, which help cooking nutritiously better food, since 2013 at a rate ranging between RS 4.6 lakh and RS 5 lakh. But their market price is just RS 2.5 lakh.
When Express posed as a buyer and sought quotations for steam boilers with the same specification with some well-known companies in the segment, the maximum price was RS 2.5 lakh with some quoting an even lower rate, GST included. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests the government could have saved as much as RS 10.60 crore had it taken the trouble of checking out the prevailing market rates.
For his part, Director of Adi Dravidar Welfare S Siva Shanmugaraja said all purchases were made after strictly following the Tender Transperancy Act. The purchases were made based on the lowest amount quoted by eligible companies during the tenders, he said. But there were no clear answers as to how the tender process resulted in government buying the product for double the market price.
According to an employee of a leading firm in Coimbatore, “After an 18 per cent GST, the 250 kg-capacity steam boiler would cost around RS 2.35 lakh plus a maximum of RS 30,000 for installation.”
Since 2013, the directorate had purchased 330 boilers. A few district administrations also locally issued tenders and purchased 200 boilers for the hostels
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