Patna, September 2
The ruling NDA today decided to probe the alleged irregularities in the purchase of a second hand “outdated” aircraft during the
President's rule last year at a cost of Rs. 13.5 crore. Mr Buta Singh then had been functioning as the Governor of Bihar.
The probe was ordered in the wake of serious objections raised by the Principal Auditor General (PAG) over the purchase of the said Kingair C 90B aircraft, produced by the US based by M/S Raytheon, allegedly not in conformity with established rules.
This was also in alleged violation of the civil aviation norms related to verifying technical specifications and availability of spare parts as the said aircraft was a “second hand” one.
The first owner of the aircraft was Range Flyers.
The M/S Raytheon had stopped producing the Kingair C 90B model, purchased by Bihar Government during the President’s rule, in July, 2005, itself and replaced it with the latest version, King air C 90GT.
After the second hand purchase of the said “outdated” aircraft by late last year, it had landed in January, 2006, this year.
The first flight of this aircraft was in March, 06.
Incidentally, it was also learnt that there was only 6.69 per cent difference in price between the outdated King air C 90B aircraft, phased out by M/S Raytheon in July last year, and the latest C 90GT aircraft being produced by the same US based company.
The deputy Chief Minister, in charge of finance portfolio, Sushil Modi said that once the probe was complete the government would submit a detailed report to the PAG with regard to the objections raised by it against the purchase of the said aircraft. “Any one found guilty should not be spared”, he asserted.
It was learnt from reliable sources that the proposal to purchase the said aircraft was first placed before the then Chief Minister Rabri Devi in November, 2004.
After failing to obtain Mrs Rabri Devi’s signature in 2004, the file was reportedly again placed before Governor Buta Singh by Chief Secretary G.S.Kang in March, 2005 during President’s rule.
Sources further disclosed that the PAG also took serious note of the commission of Rs 33 lakh which was paid to the agent
“Indamar” reportedly without proper official record.The agent reportedly had helped to strike the deal to purchase this “second hand” aircraft from Range Flyers.
Over and above, no tender was also floated to seek rates from related competitive brands too before settling down for this second hand outdated aircraft.
Sources disclosed that the
procedure to seek tender before any such purchase was also waived in this particular deal.
The then purchase committee allegedly also had overlooked the fact related to the availability of the spare parts for this aircraft as it was already phased out by its manufacturer.
Sources further pointed out while the cost to train per pilot to run the latest version of Kig Air C 90GT was just Rs. 3.5 lakh,the purchase committee had
shown the training cost to the tune of crores apparently to justify the purchase of this second hand inferior and less feasible “phased out” Kingair C 90B aircraft.
The entire purchase procedure of Kingair C 90B aircraft during the
president's rule from the exchequer of the poorest state was thus naturally under the scanner of the PAG now.
