Himachal ex-CM Jai Ram Thakur’s charge refuted

Shimla, July 22

The HP State Agricultural Marketing Board (HPSAMB) has rebutted the allegation of irregularities levelled by former CM Jai Ram Thakur, in the tender floated by the board for the digitisation of mandis.

An HPSAMB spokesperson today said that the board had issued a request for proposal (RFP) for the selection of a System Integrator for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of its integrated management system. The necessary codal formalities were completed for the preparation of the RFP document and all guidelines and rules were followed in the selection of the bidder, who was given the Letter of Intent (LoI) for the award of the work.

He said that the qualified bidder, however, made a representation to the tender committee to include the GST in addition to the quoted price in the bill of quantities. “The appropriate authority decided that the bidders are required to quote the price for digitisation process inclusive of the GST and hence rescinded the tender,” he added.