Telangana’s Tender Policy: Qualify First, Pay Later

The Revanth Reddy government has spent the week unveiling a thrilling new model of public works: invite competition, frighten away the competitors, reject the cheaper bidder and call the surviving arrangement “development”. It is transparency, Congress-style — the public can see the road, the bill and absolutely nothing in between.

A Telangana construction company, RVM Constructions, has alleged in a letter to the Builders Association of India that bidders were threatened against participating in the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited’s Radial Road-2 tenders, and that the Chief Minister’s Office demanded a 15% commission for awarding projects and releasing bills. These are allegations, not findings. The government has offered no public response so far, which is a bold interpretation of accountability: deny the allegation by refusing to acknowledge it exists.

The arithmetic is less shy. The company claims Sushee Infra, which it says was disqualified, quoted roughly ₹600 crore less across the three packages than the successful lowest bidders. It also says the field had only four bidders, rather than the usual 10–12. Telangana was apparently invited to choose between saving ₹600 crore and preserving the atmosphere around the tender. The atmosphere won. Meanwhile, contractors have reportedly alleged that nearly ₹20,000 crore in payments is pending, some of it for years. Again, allegations. But they come with a project, a figure, a tender process and a claimed saving — inconveniently solid ingredients for a government that prefers the public to survive on speeches.

The road itself makes the metaphor too easy. Radial Road-2 is meant to connect the Outer Ring Road to Hyderabad’s interior. The tender process, if these allegations hold, has created its own radial route: public money leaves the treasury, circles the administration and reaches a contractor after making a political detour. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy can end the speculation tomorrow by publishing the tender records, qualification sheets, disqualification reasons, evaluation notes, payment files and the government’s response. If the process is clean, documents will speak. If the answer is another committee and another lecture about previous governments, then “transparent governance” will mean only that the evasion is happening in daylight.

The allegation is not yet a finding. The silence, however, is already a management style. A government that cannot explain why the cheaper bid lost has no business explaining why Telangana should pay more.