Nepal Army (NA) today said it was seriously concerned over the media reports about irregularities in contracts for supply of ration to barracks in mid-western region and the alleged threat to some of the contractors by army officers.
A press statement issued by the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) of the army said tender for ration supply to the No. 24 Brigade in Jumla district has been reopened as the deadline of the first tender notice expired without any bidder coming up with a proposal.
The NA also announced that an inquiry board has been set up under Colonel Shekhar Singh Basnyat, who heads the army’s ration and transportation department, to look into the complaints of irregularities in army barracks in Rukum and Dailekh.
A report in Katipur daily on Monday said some of the bidders were facing threats from army commanders in Rukkum, Jumla and Dailekh districts, who wanted to award the ration tender to bidders quoting higher amount -- with a motive of pocketing hefty sum of commission.
The contractors said army officers of the Bhairabi Dal Battalion in Rukkum, the 24th Brigade in Jumla and Bhawani Box Battalion in Dailekh had been pressurizing them to withdraw their applications. The army officials also threatened to shoot down those refusing to withdraw their proposals.
Kantipur quoted Ram Bahadur Bhandari, a Nepalgunj-based ration supplier, as saying that Lt Colonel Bishnu Prasad Chapagain of the Bhairabi Dal Battalion had been pressuring him to withdraw his application registered at the District Administration Office.
“Earlier, even the local administration had barred us from registering the tender. We managed to register applications for tender only after the leaders of the eight parties asked the district administration to accept the applications,” Bhandari said, adding that some of the contractors were facing life threats from greedy army commanders.
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