Joining issue with accusations that Bhel's bid was rejected following a personal intervention by power minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, the trade body ACC-Babcock general workers' union, said Bhel used a lower exit gas temperature than specified by NTPC to show a totally incorrect efficiency figure to take undue advantage in the evaluation.

"They also did not include sufficient number of coal mills as required by NTPC," ACC Babcok general workers union president A B Das as also ABB Durgapur unit labour leaders B B Karmakar and Arnal K Bhattacharya said in the signed statement.

On December 2 last, when the first bid was read out, ABBCE of the US, using ABB ABL their local arm, quoted a price of $304million against Bhel's price of $335 million, they said, adding Bhel had been wrongly quoted as the lower bidder.

"NTPC qualification requirement calls for two 210 mw boilers operating at two different sites, while ABB ABL had supplied 20 boilers of 210-250 mw sizes operating at different places in the country," the union leaders said. Recalling that workers of ABB subsidiary in India, too, were "sons of the soil", the labour leaders said when the company was referred to BIFR in 1988, the then Congress government had promised to give two boiler orders every year.

"But we never saw any part of that," they said, adding finally in 1995 the company was taken over by ABB with government still holding 15 per cent equity.

"We have struggled and now have rightfully become the lowest bidder on international competitive bid. There is over Rs 100 crore of savings for the customer and ultimately for consumer in the form of tariff," the leader said. NTPC had given many orders to Bhel and now since ABB subsidiary hadwon the race, it was crying foul, they charged. The facts had also been represented to the power minister on July 9. The contract for the steam generator package is yet to be finalised. A controversy has been stirred up over the project following accusation by the Congress that Bhel's bid was rejected due to personal intervention by power minister P R Kumaramangalam despite it being the lowest.