CVC team to visit highway ministry to verify tender process for Zojila Pass

NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has sought response of road transport and highways ministry on the awarding of Zojila tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir to infrastructure major IRB.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh had approached the central transparency watchdog alleging that highways minister Nitin Gadkari had violated the CVC guidelines while awarding the contract since IRB was the single bidder for this project.Singh had also said that the government should have gone in for the Swiss challenge method.
Sources said since the documents are "voluminous", a team of officials from CVC will visit the ministry next week.
The ministry has already issued a statement saying how due procedure was followed while awarding the project.
Singh had alleged that Gadkari had business dealings with IRB chief Dattatreya Mhaiskar, which had shares in the Purti group floated by the minister. He had claimed Gadkari’s son Nikhil was director for some years in a subsidiary of IRB, which Gadkari has termed as baseless allegations.
The ministry had said that the contract was awarded after due diligence after the bid was found technically responsive. "Financial bid was opened and the quoted semi annuity amount found in line with the approval of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for award of the work,” the ministry had said.