GUWAHATI: On November 4, 2021, Diwali, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated a two-lane flyover in the state capital, Guwahati. The razzmatazz event received a lot of media attention.

Among those present were Atul Bora, a minister in the Himanta government and president of the BJP-ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), and Bodo leader and state assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary.

Local news organisations couldn’t stop talking about the 1.2-km-long flyover bridging the state secretariat (Janata Bhawan) and the busy Down Town Hospital and Supermarket areas on the city’s arterial G.S. Road.

An additional reason for the local media’s attention was that unlike other flyovers crisscrossing Guwahati, this one featured colourful graffiti showcasing local life.

A visibly happy Himanta declared to those gathered that the Rs 127 crore flyover had been completed before the official deadline.

“The completion of the work in 22 months against the scheduled 36 months reflects our government’s utmost effort to speed up infrastructure growth,” said the chief minister.

But RTI replies around this inauguration event accessed by The Crosscurrent and The Wire paint a somewhat different picture.

The documents prove that even standard operational procedures for government contracts were not followed while organising the event.

In addition, the event was made possible by spending a sizeable sum of public money.

This expenditure may have ended up favouring a close business associate of the chief minister’s immediate family, the reports claimed.

Himanta also happens to be the public works department (PWD) minister, and this department had floated the tender for organising the inauguration event.

Contract after the event

RTI replies from the Himanta administration reveal that while the mega inaugural ceremony was held on November 4, 2021, the Assam state authorities issued tenders in newspapers seeking bids from local contractors to carry out preparatory work for the flyover only five months later.

The advertisement was published in local dailies on March 9, 2022 – more than four months after the event on November 5, 2021, the reports claimed.

The March 9 advertisement sought bids for the flyover inaugural event within 15 days; the last date to receive bids was March 18, 2022.

The post-dated work orders were issued on May 2, 2022.

As per details shared through an RTI reply with The Crosscurrent, this tender (already flouting due process) received replies from two Guwahati-based business houses – M/s JMK Construction and Supplier and Dreams A-Maze – as well as from a contractor, Anjan Sarma. In a strange coincidence, the address cited by all three bidders was from the same area – Kamakhya Dham, Guwahati.

Yet another notable fact is that the individual bidder – Anjan Sarma – and the owners of the two other entities – Jugananda Sarma (JMC Construction) and Bhaskar Sarma (Dream A-Maze) – are in fact business associates.

The three are co-directors of another business entity: M/S Assam Chemists Distributors Pvt. Ltd.

How was the money spent?

According to RTI replies, the PWD granted the post-dated work to M/S Dream A-Maze.

The firm is owned by Guwahati-based Bhaskar Sarma, who, as explained below, has links to businesses involving the chief minister’s immediate family.

In all, three work orders were issued to Bhaskar’s firm by the PWD ministry.

Work orders accessed by The Wire and The Crosscurrent show that Bhaskar’s firm was paid Rs 45,94,657 for just temporary arrangements to inaugurate a flyover.

A break-up of the sum, as per the work orders signed by the executive engineer of the Dispur Territorial Roads Division of the PWD, was as follows:

  • Rs 13,35,731 was allocated for “decoration and branding of rotaries in front of Janata Bhawan and at Last Gate in connection with the inaugural function of flyover at Supermarket Intersection”;
  • Rs 14,32,950 for “flyover beautification” with flex boards displaying gamusas (traditional scarves) of different tribes of the state and the chief minister’s image, in addition to putting colourful cloth on the entire railing of the flyover; and
  • Rs 18,25,886 to put up temporary gates on the three openings of the flyover.

A glance at the government’s post-dated newspaper advertisement further showed that of the amount Rs 13,35,731 for decoration and branding, nearly half of it – Rs 6,50, 914 – was allocated for embellishing the area with tribal gamusas.

Of the remaining amount, Rs 59,040 was to be used for decoration with bamboo items; Rs 1,33,282 for beautification with artificial grass; Rs 4,13,280 for decorative lights; and Rs 79,212 for wiring to install a generator for the lights for the inauguration.

A sum of Rs 18,25,886 included expenditure for another generator and wiring work (for Rs 1,18,818) at the flyover and 300 plants and flower pots rented for seven days (for Rs 1,54,980).

The rest of this amount was to put towards LED lights at the three entry and exit points for the same duration.

The ‘beautification’ sum, Rs 14, 32,950, to Dream A-Maze was for temporarily putting up cloth on the flyover fencing for Rs 6,64,200.

The other Rs 7,68,750 went towards a flag pole, flexi boards with the chief minister’s image and pictures of gamusas of different tribes, etc.

The obvious question, of course, is why the tender was issued five months after the event had already taken place, organised by a ministry headed by the chief minister.

Did the state PWD carry out the post-dated tendering process to administrative tick boxes? Or was it trying to protect someone involved?