Bihar Government cancels 350 contracts worth ₹826 crore awarded by Mahagathbandhan regime

Bihar government cancels 350 contracts worth ₹826 crore due to irregularities, orders probe in PHED department.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) NDA government in Bihar has cancelled 350 contracts worth ₹826 crore in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) awarded by the previous Mahagathbandhan dispensation, in which the JDU and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were in alliance, citing “irregularities in the process of awarding contracts”. The department has ordered a probe.

“During the previous regime, several contracts were awarded by the department and now an inquiry by the department revealed that due process was not followed in awarding 350 contracts worth ₹826 crore which were related with rural water supply and installation of hand pumps. Subsequently, an order was issued to cancel them,” Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Niraj Kumar Singh said on Tuesday.

Mr. Singh said the department has already submitted the preliminary inquiry report to the competent authority for a probe. “After getting the preliminary report, I called a meeting of senior officials of the department and ordered for cancellation of the projects”, he said.

In January, when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the RJD and teamed up with the BJP, the new government issued an order to review decisions taken by some departments, including PHED, Rural Works Department and Urban Development.

Senior RJD leader Lalit Yadav was the PHED Minister in the previous government that was in office for 17 months. “During these 17 months, 1,160 contracts worth ₹4,600 crore were awarded in PHED,” said Mr. Singh. Asked about the details of the “irregularities”, Mr. Singh refused to divulge any and said that “the matter is being investigated by a competent authority”.

Sources in the department said contracts on rural water supply systems have been cancelled in Banka, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Aurangabad and Bhojpur districts. PHED installs hand pumps and small water supply systems in villages and urban civic wards.

The RJD reacted sharply to the decision. “The previous government executed several people-friendly projects and provided lakhs of jobs. The NDA government in the State is scared of our party leader Tejashwi Yadav’s popularity,” said RJD leader Mrityinjay Tiwari. “RJD is not scared of any probe by the government,” he said.