The winter session of the Chhattisgarh State Assembly started with a furore over tenders related to Jal Jeevan Mission Yojana as Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Dr Krishnamurti Bandhi alleged irregularities in the tender process of works of Jal Jeevan Mission.

Cornering Public Health Engineering (PHE) Minister Guru Rudra Kumar, MLA Dr Bandhi alleged that government coffers incurred a huge loss after large numbers of tenders were floated and then cancelled, only to be re-floated on higher rates once again.

Defending against the allegations of opposition, PHE Minister Guru Rudrakumar said 80 out of 200 tenders were cancelled because some of them received single or zero response. So according to the rules, if there is only a single firm or no firm has filed for the tender, it’s called off. There were complaints and each complaint has been probed.

Unsatisfied with the reply, Opposition MLA Brijmohan Agrawal alleged the concerned Minister hasn’t been able to reply with conviction and honesty. Even states like Odisha and Jharkhand have gone ahead of Chhattisgarh in implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission, an ambitious project of centre. Leader of Opposition Narayan Chandel also alleged that there are numerous scams in the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme and the PHE Minister isn’t serious about implementing the project. Narayan Chandel raised the demand that the PHE Minister constitute a committee of MLAs to survey and investigate the irregularities in the project. As the pandemonium grew louder and louder, opposition MLAs staged a walk-out over the issue and Speaker Dr Charandas Mahant adjourned the House for ten minutes.