Amid considerations in sections of the federal government that work contracts have been inflated in some states below the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil has mentioned that the Centre has stopped the cost of tender premium below the agricultural faucet water scheme — tender premium refers back to the extra quantity a bidder quotes, greater than the federal government’s accredited value.
Responding to a query on the Thought Alternate programme of The Indian Categorical (an in depth transcript of the interplay might be revealed subsequent week), Patil mentioned, “Tender premium ka bhugtan humne rok diya hai. Jo thha, jo gaya hoga woh alag baat hai, magar jo naya hai usse poori tarah hamne rok diya hai.
(We’ve stopped the cost of tender premium. What was there, what has gone is a unique matter, however what’s new has been utterly stopped).”
He mentioned as soon as the tender course of is over, there shouldn’t be any facility like tender premium thereafter. “We really feel cash is unnecessarily wasted,” he mentioned.
Patil mentioned there is not going to be a provision for cost of tender premium within the new JJM tips to be introduced for the subsequent section of the programme — the federal government has introduced extension of the JJM till 2028.
His remarks come at a time when sections of the federal government have expressed concern that JJM work contracts have been inflated in some states. Earlier this yr, an Expenditure Secretary-led panel really useful a 46 per cent minimize within the Jal Shakti Ministry’s proposal searching for Rs 2.79 lakh crore for finishing the mission over 4 years ending December 2028.
The Indian Categorical report on Could 21.
The cost of tender premium was prohibited within the unique JJM tips. The ‘Operational Tips for the Implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission: Har Ghar Jal’, issued in December 2019, clearly acknowledged that every one schemes sanctioned below JJM can be applied with out value and time overrun.
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“In case of any value escalation past the accredited value, it must be borne by the State and UTs with legislature involved and no extra expenditure out of Central share might be permitted,” the rules acknowledged.
The 2019 tips additionally listed the tender premium within the ‘Suggestive record of inadmissible bills’. However in June 2022, the Ministry, with the approval of “competent authority”, made an important change in these tips. The Ministry outlined the ‘accredited value’ and deleted ‘tender premium’ from the suggestive record of inadmissible bills.
“The ‘accredited value’ for this objective shall be the associated fee as found by way of an open, clear and aggressive bidding course of as per prevailing Guidelines,” acknowledged the amended tips circulated to the states on June 21, 2022.
The brand new tips additionally acknowledged that wherever such ‘accredited value’ was 10% to 25% greater than the estimated value at which the tender for a challenge/scheme was invited, approval by the Head of the State Stage Scheme Sanctioning Committee (SLSSC) must be taken earlier than award of labor.
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Wherever such ‘accredited value’ was over 25% greater than the estimated value at which the tender for a challenge/scheme was invited, approval by the Head of the Apex Committee of the state Water and Sanitation Mission must be taken earlier than award of the work, the rules acknowledged.
On Could 21 this yr, The Indian Categorical reported that an investigation of the info uploaded by states and UTs on the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard confirmed that these essential modifications within the JJM tips three years in the past lifted the verify on expenditure, and led to value escalations. This resulted in extra prices totalling Rs 16,839 crore for 14,586 schemes, a rise of 14.58 per cent from their estimated value.
For the reason that launch of the JJM in 2019, 6.4 lakh water provide schemes with complete estimated value of Rs 8.29 lakh crore – greater than double of the scheme’s unique outlay of Rs 3.60 lakh crore (Centre: Rs 2.08 lakh crore, States:1.52 lakh crore) – have been accredited by the states.
To fulfill the extra requirement of funds, the Ministry had approached the Expenditure Finance Committee, headed by the Expenditure Secretary, to approve Rs 2.79 lakh crore extra Central funding over and above Rs 2.08 lakh crore. However the EFC really useful solely Rs 1.51 lakh crore because the Central share, 46 per cent decrease than what was sought by the Ministry.