Two senior officials held for two days as PMO pushed Sunkoshi Marin tender cancellation, sources allege

Two senior officials were allegedly held for two days while the Prime Minister's Office pressed them to cancel the tender for the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Project, sources familiar with the matter have alleged.

The officials are Dinesh Rajauriya, director general of the Department of Irrigation, and Krishna Prasad Rijal, chief of the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Project. Both are joint secretary level officers.

Rajauriya was on an inspection visit in Siraha when he was called to the Prime Minister's Office. Police took him at about 2:45 pm, first to the Golbazar police office and later to the Mangaltar area police office in Kavre, according to the sources. Rijal was also taken by police on Thursday afternoon in Sindhuli. Both men were brought to the Thankot police complex on Thursday evening.

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The two men were handed over to the Prime Minister's Office at about 9 am on Friday, the sources said. They were questioned in separate rooms, numbered 306 and 207, and their mobile phones were seized. They were released only late on Friday night, at about 10:30 pm, after agreeing to cancel the tender process.

Sources said development adviser Sanjiv Pandey and deputy private secretary Bishal Adhikari questioned the officials in a threatening manner and pressed them to cancel the tender. The Prime Minister's chief private secretary, Subash Sharma, had earlier telephoned ministry and department leaders asking for the technical evaluation to be redone.

The project is a national pride project intended to bring year-round irrigation to about 122,000 hectares in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat and Bara. Its tunnel work was completed in Baisakh 2081, overall physical progress is about 35 percent, and completion is targeted for Ashoj 2084.

A previous contract for the dam work, worth Rs 14.07 billion and held by the Patel-Raman joint venture, was terminated last year after only 7 percent progress in 30 months. A new tender was called on 25 Jestha 2083. Three companies passed the technical evaluation: China Water and Energy Corporation, the Aneng-RCC joint venture, and Sino Hydro Corporation. Their financial bids were due to open on Monday.

Procurement experts say the cancellation is unlawful. Former secretary and procurement expert Suresh Pradhan said a procuring body may cancel a tender only under Section 26 of the Public Procurement Act, in four listed situations, and officials who cancel outside those situations face departmental action. Advocate Semanta Dahal said Section 3 of the Act sets out its jurisdiction and does not itself give power to cancel, and the cancellation notice gave no objective reason under Section 26.

Officials at the Prime Minister's Office gave a different account. Press expert Deepa Dahal said she had no information about the matter. Another senior official, who did not speak on the record, said complaints of serious legal and procedural flaws led to the instruction to cancel, and pointed to an amended procurement rule requiring a 50-50 technical and financial weighting for projects above Rs 1.5 billion, and to a suspicious amendment to the bid document. A department official, also speaking without being named, said the bid document was amended to answer queries from interested companies.

The cancellation notice was published on Saturday, citing Section 3(2) of the Act. The decision means the financial bids due on Monday will not be opened under the cancelled process.