Vijay changes another decision amid criticism

A heated political debate has erupted in Tamil Nadu over a government tender process. The Tamil Nadu government led by Thalapathy Vijay has cancelled a government contract within hours of the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alleging irregularities. NDTV reported this.
The tender process for the construction of a 3,000-litre overhead water tank worth Rs 16.83 lakh in a village in Thoothukudi district of the state ended on May 19. However, the unusual deadline for the tender has sparked a major controversy.
As per the rules, contractors were supposed to get detailed information about the tender from May 13. But in reality, the tender was opened at 9 am on May 18 and closed just six hours later—at 3 pm. The next day, at 4 pm, a specific company was given the order to complete the work. After the incident came to light, the tender was cancelled citing ‘administrative reasons’. The two officials have also been suspended pending the investigation. The DMK, which lost power to the TMC in the elections last month, has launched a scathing attack on the ruling party over the incident. They claim that the flawed process was designed to favour a particular company. Senior DMK leader Amutharasan questioned, “How is it possible for a company to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and complete all the institutional formalities in just 6 hours?”
He added, “This is not an administrative step, this is the politics of a pre-planned contract! Why did Rural Development and Water Resources Minister N Anand take such an urgent step on the first day? Or is it a ‘stamp of authority’ on a pre-planned contract? Having been elected by the people of the T Nagar constituency, are you playing the politics of ‘crisis tenders’ instead of honest politics?”
This is the second major setback since Chief Minister Joseph Vijayan’s government came to power. Earlier, the new government had come under heavy criticism from the opposition for appointing an astrologer as an officer on special duty. Initially, TVK had claimed that Radhan Pandit Vetrivel, an astrologer, was appointed only as a spokesperson and had nothing to do with his profession. However, facing intense criticism, the party was finally forced to remove him from the post. However, despite the controversy, Vijay’s TVK government has also garnered praise in its first few days in power. The new administration has received widespread praise for ordering the closure of state-owned ‘Tasmac’ liquor shops located within 500 metres of educational institutions, bus stands and religious places of worship.