All India LPG Cylinders Manufacturers Association on Wednesday alleged violation of tender norms in finalisation of LPG cylinder procurement price by the government. The government, contrary to tender term norms, reopened the lowest bid price of Rs 777 per cylinder quoted by Balmer Lawrie and renegotiated it to around Rs 650 per cylinder, the association alleged. The renegotiations, carried out under pressure from government, was in violation of the accepted tender norms of not negotiating price quoted by l1 (lowest bidder), association president B L Saboo said in a statement.
This (renegotiation) was on the pretext that the government wanted to move to an open tender system of procuring LPG cylinders instead of earlier practice of procurement from authorised manufacturers based on a fixed rate, he said.
While the cylinder manufacturers quoted a common delivered rate of Rs 890 per cylinder, state-owned Balmer Lawrie quoted the lowest rates of Rs 777 per cylinder.
Bureau Report