Uniforms purchased without tender: Fire Services DG

Cuttack: Amidst the war of words between DG, Fire Services Binay Behera and former ADG, Fire Services and CBI joint director M Nageswara Rao over an allegation of bungling worth Rs 3 crores in the purchase of uniforms and dungarees for the service, the former today said the purchase was made without inviting tenders or involving the purchase committee in gross violation of rules.

Behera said he had sought a directive from the government since payment towards the purchase was to be sanctioned by him.

“After I took charge as the DG, Fire Services in November, 2015, a number of supply agencies dealing with equipment and uniform came to me requesting to keep the supplied materials in stock and make payment. But while processing the records of stock and payment, it was found that the purchase order was placed without any tender and without the approval of the technical committee or the purchase committee. When I asked the Accounts Officer whether it was a regular practice, he said as per his knowledge the department does not adhere to such practices. Since payment to the suppliers was my responsibility and I would have been directly implicated in the case as proper procedure was not followed, I had sought the advice of the state government in this regard. This is all about my role in this case,” Behera told OTV.

Talking about the audit, Behera said the audit was not made for one year. “In fact, the audit recovery has been done from 2011-12 when I joined as the ADG, Fire Services till 2015-16 by which time I had joined the DG. The audit agency was under the Finance department. Neither it is under me and nor under the Home department,” he pointed out.