To please the VIPs, to provide them royal favours and to keep them in happy mood is the prime task meticulously performed by political class in concert with the top bureaucracy in our State. These VIPs cannot travel by road even in most luxurious limousines because their tiny body frame brought up in silken comforts cannot undertake tiresome surface journey. For their travels Agusta A-109E Power Helicopter costing 20 crore rupees was procured by the Civil Aviation Department of Jammu and Kashmir in non-transparent manner. The CAG has pointed out technical and financial irregularities related to this transaction. Its vies is that no formal Notice Inviting Tenders or Request for Proposals was issued either on open/global tender basis or even to three short listed venders on limited tendering basis. Why did authorities flaunt the procedure of competitive tendering and why out of three shortlisted helicopters only Augusta was approved? The Department of Civil Aviation will have to answer these questions.
Our readers are aware that CAG has censured the State Government Departments in some more matters pointing out their gross irregularities. Our State is not the solitary case in such matters. However, that does not mean that we just turn away our sight and ignore it. There is a mystery also surfacing from the case under consideration. The Department of Civil Aviation asked for the opinion of the Rajasthan Government in this transaction because Rajasthan had also purchased Augusta. We do not know what the comment of Rajasthan Government was but the starling thing is that that comment is missing on the record according to knowledgeable sources. Why was that record missing, gives rise to many doubts. The Government should order probe into this suspicious bargain, find out whether or not gross irregularity has occurred, and fix the onus.
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