TNHB puts off tender on tree cuts after row

TRICHY: The Trichy unit of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) indefinitely postponed the tender process for removing trees on its land in Mullur village of Pudukkottai district . The decision has come after allegations were raised that TNHB officials were trying to underestimate the tender value .

Mullur village has about 100 acres of land owned by TNHB where a development scheme is planned for building 1584 houses.

Around 3700 trees on the land needs to be axed for implementing the scheme and TNHB had called for tenders for removing them. According to Poochi S Murugan, general secretary, Labour Progressive Front (LPF), TNHB, there has been attempts to underestimate the tender value to benefit ruling party contractors and bring losses to TNHB. In a letter to the General Manager, TNHB, Murugan said that there were close to 5000 trees in the land as opposed to 3700 quoted by the officials. Further its value is over Rs 2 crore as these are several decades old trees. The value quoted by the officials was only 16 lakh, he said.

Murugan said that the tender value is estimated with the price fixed for 2019-20 instead of 2020-21. Further the call for tender was not advertised through newspapers, so as to ensure less number of bidders for the tender process, he alleged. Murugan has also sought detailed investigation into the tender process and action against officials who have indulged in irregularities.

Speaking to TOI, executive engineer of the Trichy housing unit, R Manoharan, said that they have postponed the tender process for administrative reasons. While he didn’t rule out a possible revision of tender rate, he refused to comment on allegations of deliberate attempts to underestimate the value of trees.