Chandigarh: In the meeting of the High Powered Purchase Committee (HPPC), chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini held on late Monday evening at Haryana Niwas, procurement and contracts worth Rs. 252 crore for various departments were approved.
Notably in the meeting, the Chief Minister held negotiations with different companies and ensured a significant reduction in the rates of several items, emphasizing the effective and judicious use of public funds. Education Minister, Mahipal Dhanda and Women and Child Development Minister, Shruti Choudhry also remained present during the meeting.
During the meeting approval was granted to the procurement of security equipment for the Haryana Police. Besides this, approval was also granted for the purchase of 18,000 Rabbit Conductors of 50 sq. mm size for Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam at an estimated cost of around Rs. 175 crore.
Furthermore, approval was also granted for the procurement of five types of 132/66 KV C&R Panels for Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) at a cost of approximately Rs. 13 crore.
A proposal related to the insurance of ordinary buses, AC buses, mini buses, and buses operated by Driver Training Schools under the Haryana Transport Department for a period of two years was also approved.
The Chief Minister held detailed discussions with the government insurance company United India Insurance Company, following which the company agreed to provide insurance coverage at the same rates as last year.
The Chief Minister said that government money is essentially public money and that the government is merely its custodian. He stressed that complete transparency and accountability must be ensured in the expenditure of public funds. He further directed all departments to undertake a comparative assessment of prevailing market rates, previous years’ rates, and rates applicable in other states during the procurement process so as to ensure maximum value and optimum utilization of government resources.
Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Sudhir Rajpal, Additional Chief Secretary, Transport Department, Raja Sekhar Vundru, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Arun Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Anurag Agarwal, ADGP, A.S. Dhillon, Commissioner and Secretary, Energy Department, Smt. Ashima Brar, Managing Director, HVPNL, Aditya Dahiya, Managing Director, DHBVN, Vikram and other senior officers also remained present during the meeting.
