The new government in Tamil Nadu led by actor turned politician Chief Minister Vijay is now caught in an alleged web of dubious tenders and bidding processes as suspicion grows of possible quid pro quo.
Two major deals are under the scanner over the past month or so. The first one is the ‘Thaaimaaman Thanga Mothira Thittam’ where Joy Alukkas the jeweler who won the bid for supplying one gram 22 carat gold ring to every new born in a Tamil Nadu government hospital made a bid as low as an astonishing one paise for each ring.
What set the cat among the pigeon is the basic economic question of how a company can afford to quote so low and still make the business a viable one. While this smelled of a probable quid pro quo right from the beginning what is more startling is the latest tender for renovation of the Chief Minister’s office.
While the initial government tender quoted five and a half crores, the builders RAASI who won the bid had quoted as low as 3.78 crores.
The ruling TVK says they had achieved this because the rest of the money in any issued tender used to go as commission and party fund. But the cardinal question which then arises is whether the state public works department is issuing tenders that allow open corruption to take place?
The News Monk’s Sandhya Ravishankar will following these two cases in days to come as we try to uncover the truth.
