Allegations of tender irregularity, fraud at Deocha-Pachami coal project ‘baseless': WBPDCL
A senior official of the WBPDCL told The Hindu on Friday that the CPI(M)'s demand for a judicial probe into the tendering process of the coal project 'makes no sense'.
CPI(M) State Secretary Mohammad Salim on Thursday had accused the Trinamool government and WBPDCL of breach of tender guidelines, violations of allotment agreement, and miscategorisation of the coal mine 'to bypass the need for environmental clearances and public hearings.'
Addressing CPI(M)'s allegations of irregularities in the tendering process, the WBPDCL official said that the tendering process was conducted on a national e-procurement system operated by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
'A total of 11 companies had shown interest, of which eight had qualified and participated in the tender process. Five of them were from other States like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. Of them, the company with the highest bid value of 71.5% revenue share was selected. This means, in a revenue sharing model, 71.5% of the profit would go to the government,' the official claimed.
They added that this is the highest bid value received by any company pertaining to basalt or stone mining so far in the State, for this kind of tender.
WBPDCL also refuted allegations that clearances were not obtained and the mining plan was not submitted before mining operations began at the DPDH project.
'All necessary clearances have been obtained. A series of statutory clearances and permissions is required to operate a mine. We have obtained the necessary permissions, submitted our mining plan, secured consent to operate from the Director General of Mines Safety, and obtained other requisite clearances. It must be remembered that DPDH is a continuous project which will go on for months and years,' the WBPDCL official said.
The official further stated that the reason basalt had to be mined before coal is that, unlike in other coal mines, the coal in the DPDH project is trapped under a layer of basalt, which is 80 metres to 200 metres thick.
'How can we mine the coal if we do not mine the basalt first? It is not clear why questions are being raised on the ongoing basalt mining project given these circumstances,' the official said.
CPI(M) leader Mr. Salim had raised questions on why a power development corporation was concerned with the basalt mining work at the DPDH mine.
On the CPI(M)'s allegations that the mining work was started in a 12-acre area 'to deliberately bypass the need for clearances and a public hearing needed for a mine of a bigger scale', the WBPDCL official told The Hindu that 'it is not possible to start mining operations in the entirety of the 3,500 acre project area at once.'
However, the CPI(M) had also alleged the tender guidelines were breached when the company selected as the mine developer and operator at DPDH, 'Trancemarine and Confreight Logistics Private Limited', reportedly underwent an acquisition after being awarded the contract. No clarification was given on this matter.
The CPI(M) State Secretary, Mr. Salim had alleged that the acquisition and consequent ownership change of the selected company violates WBPDCL's own tender conditions and 'hints at deep corruption in the DPDH project'.
It is worth noting that there have also been prolonged and widespread protests in the Mohammed Bazar block of Birbhum district, where locals accused the government of 'tricking them into surrendering land' for the DPDH coal project in exchange for lucrative benefits.
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