A corruption case has been filed against five people, including the then chief administrative officer of Kalaiya sub-metropolitan city of Bara, on the charge of corruption in the procurement of sanitary pads.
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed a corruption case in the special court on Tuesday against the then Chief Administrative Officer of Kalaiya Pralhad Prasad Varnwal, Education Officer Vijay Adhikari, Head of GNC Rajesh Thakur and Accounts Officer Divya Sarraf and Proprietor Bimalesh Sah of Sagardevi Firma who got the contract for the purchase of sanitary pads. After the investigation confirmed that the pad was bought at a higher price in collusion for the year 2077/78 and the year 2078/79, the authority has filed a case against the defendant demanding imprisonment and fines as per the requirement of 51 lakh 99 thousand 120 rupees.
According to Rajendra Kumar Paudel, the spokesperson of the authority, a case was filed against the accused after it was found that the pad was bought at a high price in collusion with Sagardevi firm's proprietor Saha. Contrary to public procurement regulations and sanitary pad distribution and management procedure, on 077 November 19, the price of pad per packet was fixed at 79 rupees 1 paisa by the staff including the chief administrative officer. Based on that, the cost estimate was prepared and the purchase plan was approved. In the procurement competition, only three firms from the same family submitted bids.
Among them, it was found that a contract for the purchase of 96 thousand 280 packets of pads was given from Sagradevi Firma with a payment of 78 rupees per packet. While the same sanitary pads were purchased at the rate of 24 rupees per packet in the year 2078/79, the Authority filed a case with the conclusion that there was corruption of 54 rupees per packet, holding the employees and contractors involved in the procurement process guilty and maintaining the embezzled amount.
In the indictment filed by the authority in the special court, it is said, "In the collusion, three different firms in the name of the same family submitted bids and awarded the contract by fixing the price of sanitary pads at 78 rupees per packet. In the year 2078/79, when purchasing sanitary pads from the same company, it was seen that they were purchased at 24 rupees per packet, compared to the previous year at the rate of 54 rupees per packet, a total of 96,280 packets of 96,280 packets Due to overpayment of 120 rupees, the defendants Pralhad Prasad Varnwal, Vijay Adhikari, Rajesh Thakur Hazam and Divya Sarraf have been sentenced to imprisonment and fined according to the Prevention of Corruption Act 2059, and a demand has been taken to recover the bigo.
