The high powered committee on Polavaram Project headed by chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi canceled the Polavaram tender finalized in favour of SEW consortium and decided to call for fresh tenders.

The committee reviewed the tenders at its meeting last evening and decided to cancel the tenders and opt for fresh global bids.

Mr Bhaskar, Principal Secretary of the Finance Department and Mr SK Joshi, Principal Secretary of the major irrigation department also attended the meeting. “Neither the L-1 bidder SEW Joint Venture nor the L-2 bidder Soma Joint Venture had the requisite financial and technical qualifications for constructing the project,” said the committee in its cancellation order.

The L-1(first lowest) bidder SEW joint venture was promoted by Lakhmi Rajam, who had a majority stake in the Namaste Telangana daily in which KCR also had a stake. Since both of them are close friends, the finalization of bid in favour of SEW has led to allegations that KCR had compromised on the Telangana agitation for the sake of the Polavaram Project tender.

L-2 bidder Soma Joint Venture challenged the finalization of the tender in favour SEW following which the HC appointed the high powered committee headed by Dwivedi. (JUBS)