Bihar cancels ₹800 crore tenders awarded during RJD minister’s tenure

PATNA: The Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Bihar government on Wednesday announced its decision to cancel 350 tenders awarded by the public health and engineering department (PHED) when Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) was in an alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary said the cancelled tenders, worth ₹826 crore, relate to the period when Rashtriya Janata Dal lawmaker Lalit Kumar Yadav was the state’s PHED minister in the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance government between August 2022 and January 2024.

These contracts relate to supply of drinking water in rural areas.

Chaudhary, a Bharatiya Janata Party, announced right after his appointment as deputy chief minister that the government would review the works carried out by the Grand Alliance in departments overseen by the RJD and the Congress.

Officials said the department signed off on 1,100 contracts worth ₹4,600 crore when Yadav was the PHED minister. A senior official said the 350 contracts related to rural water supply were scrapped on orders of PHED minister Niraj Kumar Bablu after an inquiry indicated that due process was not followed in these cases. Most of these projects relate to the installation of hand pumps and mini water supply systems in rural areas.

The deputy CM said officials who did not adhere to the stipulated norms also won’t be spared and will be taken to task.

Of the 350 cases, the largest number of projects (106) relate to Banka district, followed by Jamui (73), Lakhisarai (20), Aurangabad (18) and Ara (11).

RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary said the cancellation of contracts signed by the previous government smacked of a vindictive approach of the Nitish Kumar-led dispensation against RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.

“Leaders of the JD(U) and the BJP are scared of the growing popularity of Yadav. The MGB government had taken many people-friendly decisions, which led to the employment of about 7-8 lakh youths,” said Tiwari, adding that the RJD would not be cowed down by such bullying tactics.

Bihar’s cabinet secretariat in February asked officials to review activities of the health, road construction, urban development and rural works departments, which were headed by RJD ministers during the MGB government.