Formation of “District Construction Committee” for construction works in Naxal-affected districts – Big decision of Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai
Better implementation, monitoring and evaluation of construction works through District Construction Committee
Ensuring quality and transparency in construction works in Naxal-affected areas is the top priority – Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai
Raipur, 1 April 2025: The state government, led by Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai, has taken a decisive step and approved the formation of a “District Construction Committee” to ensure transparency and accountability of construction works in Naxal-affected Sukma, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts. Chief Minister Sai has clearly said that corruption will not be tolerated at any level. Ensuring quality and transparency in works run with public money in Naxal-affected areas will be the top priority. In this connection, an order has been issued by the General Administration Department regarding the formation of the District Construction Committee. This committee has been constituted for better implementation, monitoring and evaluation of construction works. The District Collector will be the Chairman of the Committee. The Superintendent of Police of the district, CEO District Panchayat, DFO, Executive Engineer of Public Works Department, District Treasury Officer and District Head Officer of the concerned work will be the members of the committee.
The working area of the District Construction Committee will be the entire revenue district. Administrative approval of the works will be issued by the competent authority under the current rules. The works to be done through the District Construction Committee will be determined by the District Collector. The works which are not possible to be completed even after inviting online tenders 3 times due to unavailability of willing contractors, such urgent and unavoidable construction works will be done through the District Construction Committee. There are instructions to not get the work done through the District Construction Committee as far as possible in those blocks of the district which are not deeply Naxal-affected. In the works to be done from local funds such as DMF/CSR etc., first of all the working agency such as PWD/RES/PMGSY etc. should be appointed as the implementing agency and not the District Construction Agency. If the work is not executed by these agencies, if no one participates in the tender for 3 consecutive times, then only in such a situation, the District Construction Agency can be made the implementing agency in the work to be done from local funds.
Work up to Rs. 10.00 crore can be done through the committee. Tenders will be invited through e-tender for getting the unavoidable and urgent construction works done by the District Construction Committee. The District Construction Committee can divide a work into two or more parts for the convenience of construction, for example, if road construction work is approved along with bridges, then there will be freedom to appoint a separate contractor for road work and a separate contractor for bridges. In case the length of the road is more or the number of bridges is more, there will be freedom to divide the road into two or more parts and appoint separate agencies for different bridges, but while dividing a work into smaller pieces, the committee will ensure that the overall quality of the work remains the same and the cost price of the work done in different pieces is the same. If the work is done in different pieces, then it should be kept in mind that the rate should not be more than the rate of similar type of work done by different departments in the district in the last three years. The work of inspection, supervision and evaluation of the works will be done by the Public Works Department or a competent technical officer appointed by the Collector.
Transparency will get institutional framework: Reasonableness and competitiveness of rates will be ensured. The tender accepting authority will satisfy itself about the reasonableness of the rates before accepting the tenders. The reasonableness of the rates will be assessed mainly on the basis of reasonable rates, the tender accepting authority may refer to the rates of tenders of similar nature of works called within the last three months period while deciding on the tenders. Similar works mean similar works in nature, quantity, specifications and location, which is very close.
A justification statement will be prepared to check the reasonableness of rates. This method involves preparing a detailed analysis of the rates keeping in view the market rates of labor, material, freight etc. This initiative under the leadership of Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai will not only increase administrative efficiency, but will also give impetus to development in Naxal-affected areas as well as hit hard on corruption. This strategy of Chief Minister Sai is a decisive step towards strengthening the basic principles of development, trust and transparency of state governance.
