Small-scale PVC pipes manufacturing units in Jharkhand are up in arms against the state’s drinking water & sanitation department, which, according to them, has unilaterally stopped direct purchase of their products by installing hand pumps on a turnkey basis.
According to the Jharkhand PVC Pipe Manufacturers Association (JPPMA), though the state’s new purchase policy clearly says that PVC pipes are included in the list of 51 items that various government departments need to procure directly from local small-scale manufacturers only, the drinking water & sanitation department has unilaterally given approval for installation of drilled hand pumps on a turnkey basis, overturning a previous Cabinet decision.
The state’s new purchase policy unveiled recently gives several concessions to small-scale manufacturers of consumable items. It directs all the government departments to compulsorily procure all such items from local small-scale units on a priority basis, without of course sacrificing on quality.
“By going for installation of drilled hand pumps on a turnkey basis, the department has not only diluted PVC pipes’ inclusion in the purchase policy but also ignored the existing cabinet order against having turnkey projects”, said JPPMA president Diwakar Singh.
The JPPMA, a body of small-scale PVC pipe units in the state, on Monday wrote a letter to chief minister Madhu Koda explaining the situation, and has sought his office’s intervention.
The drinking water department has so far not bothered to re-examine its decision though state industry secretary SK Satpathy in a letter to the department last month expressed his anguish over procurement of PVC pipes by contractors from any source (for use in the turnkey projects). It “may dilute the quality of this vital input,” he wrote in his letter.