Balasore, Aug. 30: The decision of the Odisha rural development department to procure PVC pipes and other materials through competitive bidding has evoked protests from local manufacturers in the state.
The notification issued by the rural development department on July 30 said the department would procure the PVC pipes through bidding under composite tender method for execution of pipe water supply scheme and installation of tubewells.
“This notification is a clear violation of the Orissa Industrial Policy Resolution, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Policy and Rate Contract Rules,” said president of the Balasore Chamber of Industries and Commerce, Himanshu Das.
These policies and guidelines have been formulated to protect and promote the home industries. Under the Industrial Policy Resolution, the state government will extend marketing support to local small-scale industries. The procurement will be distributed among the local small-scale industries keeping in view their respective production capacities. Moreover, the local small-scale units are entitled to get a five per cent price preference over other industries, said Das.
Under the rules contract notified by the state industries department in 2003, the government agencies will purchase items from the small-scale industries holding the rate contract. The rates are fixed by the directorate of export promotion and marketing.
The Orissa MSME Development Policy provides that the rate contract items shall not be procured by any other means. On 28 February, it was decided at a meeting chaired by the chief secretary that PVC pipes would be procured from the firms holding EPM rate contract as per their production capacity.
However, rural development secretary S.N. Tripathi said:“The preference to local industries under the Industrial Policy Resolution is applicable in case of direct purchase by the government. But in this case, we are procuring PVC pipe through contractors. We have, therefore, decided to go through tender route to ensure transparency.”
