Post Date: Post Date – 11:15pm, Monday – Oct 31st 22
Hyderabad: Despite claims by Sushee Infra’s managing director K Sankeerth Reddy that the company transparently packaged contracts for the Chandragupt open pit coal mine project, doubts continue to surface suggesting wrongdoing.
Initially, the global tender will take place on 30 June 2020 after the end of the financial year. The tender will be held again in February 2021 in the same financial year.
However, in terms of eligibility criteria, some relaxations were made in the February 2021 tender, particularly in terms of company net worth and turnover, purportedly to facilitate Sushee Infra’s eligibility.
Despite the relaxation of eligibility criteria, the company reportedly still fails to meet the criteria for net worth and turnover parameters. To weather the storm, the company formed a consortium with Andhra Pradesh-based MRKR and met the eligibility criteria.
The family of YSRCP MLA M Mallikarjun Reddy reportedly holds a 24% stake in the MRKR company, which has a civil contract but is not engaged in mining. Neither company reportedly had the requisite mining experience.
Interestingly, the union coal ministry set up a special committee to make some recommendations. The Commission disclosed in its report that the finalisation of the Chandragupt mine developer and operator (MDO) was delayed by 237 days.
Following the bid opening in June 2021, the MDO model was revised and the committee reported and recommended revisions to the project value and other data. The Commission also uncovered a false announcement by Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) that the company voluntarily offered a price of Rs 538.29 per tonne.
Remarkably, despite the commission’s revelations of the irregularities, the CCL finalized the bid at its December 9, 2021 meeting, and offered a work reward on December 20. In August 2022, following an order to the company, the commission said Sushee Infra was offering a higher price. It also sought information from CCL on why the company quoted such a high price.
In fact, this suggests that contract awards were delayed and awarded only after a deal was struck.
