NHM caught on the wrong foot

Guwahati, September 19, 2018

The National Health Mission (NHM) floated a tender for a work of Rs.80 lakh under Ayushman Bharat but surprisingly did not give any time to the contractors to file papers for the work.

Initially, the NHM floated the tender online on September 14 and made September 18 as the last date for filing of the papers. Accordingly, some contractors had filed their papers online. However, on September 18 evening, the NHM cancelled it through a notification.

Interestingly, the NHM issued an advertisement in a local newspaper on Wednesday (September 19) saying the tender has to be filed manually and the last date of which is September 18 (Tuesday).

The aggrieved contractors are now up in arms with the NHM.

“How can one file a tender by going in the past? If September 18 was the last date, the NHM should have notified it earlier by giving an advertisement in newspapers. Secondly, we know tender for work, exceeding Rs.50 lakh, is floated online. We suspect that the NHM’s shift from online to manual tendering process was a deliberate ploy to favour a certain individual,” a contractor said requesting anonymity.

However, NHM director, Executive Director of NHM, Assam, Dr Achyut Kr Baishya said that the tender was closed due to certain reasons. The issue has been notified to the contractors already.