SRINAGAR: A young entrepreneur has accused the Jammu and Kashmir bank of manipulating a tender notice that he says gave undue preference to their “favourite” companies.
He has also moved court which ordered on Friday that the tender notice be put in abeyance till the next hearing on April 15.
The bank three days ago advertised a tender notice seeking procurement of rice, pulses, sugar among 300 different perishable and non-perishable items. The notice called for quotations on the payment of Rs 500 to obtain the tender document.
Umar Tibetbaqal of the Labaika group says the bank has specified particular brands for the food items which he believes has been done only to “favour certain companies”.
“For pulses they want only Rajdhani brand and likewise for tea they only want a specific brand. This is unprecedented. They can give certain specifications for the quality of the items, but mentioning one brand raises suspicion,” he says.
Tibetbaqal believes the J&K bank “does not care about the quality but only wants to appease certain businessmen”.
“For example if anybody wants good quality cement, they can mention 45 OPC grade or any other specification. But saying that they want a particular brand for a particular item defeats the very purpose of competition.”
“I think certain officials of the bank are hand-in-glove with the companies and are doing their best to provide them all chances of profit making,” he adds.
The young businessman further accuses the bank of issuing the tender notice as only a formality, raising questions over the 4-day time duration of the tender.
“If the bank had to do its own way there was no purpose of entering into tendering process,” he adds.
The bank authorities could not be reached for comment.
Tibetbaqal blames “corrupt practices like this” of forcing valley-based entrepreneurs to leave Kashmir and settle outside.
