Varanasi: The Varanasi Municipal Corporation has cracked down on tender irregularities, blacklisting 29 firms for not paying earnest money deposit (EMD) and tender fees, as per municipal commissioner Himanshu Nagpal’s directives.Depositing the EMD amount and tender fee was mandatory for the firms in the tenders invited by the corporation. Despite this, several contractors and organisations participated in the tenders without completing these financial formalities. After confirmation in an internal inquiry, VMC deemed this as obstruction of govt process and open defiance of rules.Taking a strict stance, the administration placed these firms on the blacklist. This major action by municipal commissioner caused panic among the contractors who were taking the tender process lightly until now. The general engineering department has stated that strict action of this nature will continue to be taken against firms that compromise transparency in the future as well.
