Forest Department cancels tender citing ‘technical issues’; fresh tenders on cards

Mysore/Mysuru: Problems have surfaced during the tenders invited by the Forest Department for transporting first batch of Dasara elephants from Veeranahosahalli to Mysuru during Gajapayana, leading the authorities to cancel the tender, citing technical issues.

The tender process was initiated to transport the Dasara elephants to Mysuru and back, covering an approximate distance of 600 km. Avinash of Srirama Transport submitted a bid of Rs. 4.25 lakh, while Shakib of Mount Hira Enterprises bid for Rs. 63. However, Shakib later clarified that his bid was Rs. 63 per kilometre, while the tender required the total amount to be mentioned.

The confusion arose as Avinash had quoted the total amount, while Shakib had quoted amount on a per-kilometre basis. The Forest Department officials, citing these technical discrepancies, called off the     tender process.

Reacting to the situation, Avinash expressed his concerns, stating that his competitor Shakib had bid Rs. 63 for the entire transport task, which led to the cancellation due to supposed technical issues.

Avinash argued that, the bid amount should have been submitted as a total, not per kilometre, and felt that the cancellation was unjust. He claimed, “The amount to be quoted in the tender was supposed to be the whole amount, but now they are saying it is per kilometre. They are citing technical issues now. I feel we are being cheated.”

Avinash also noted that Shakib had been the previous contractor for the task, typically transporting the elephants in a six-wheeler truck. He alleged that after submitting his tender application, the requirement was changed to a 10-wheeler truck, suggesting a potential bias towards the previous bidder. Avinash urged the Forest Department to either honour Shakib’s bid as a total of Rs. 63 or blacklist him if the bid was invalid.

Meanwhile, Forest Department officer Santosh, speaking to Star of Mysore, stated that the Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) has the authority to cancel the tender process. This decision was made in the interest of fairness between the two bidders.

He added that since Gajapayana is scheduled for next month, a new tender would be floated soon, and the responsibility of transporting the Dasara elephants would be assigned accordingly.