Winter session from Dec 7: 150 of PWD's 386 works in Nagpur yet to reach tender opening

With the state legislature's winter session set to open in Nagpur on December 7, the Public Works Department (PWD) is racing against the calendar. About 150 of the 386 works it has lined up for the occasion have not yet got as far as the opening of tenders. The administration has stepped up its preparations, but the gap has raised doubts over whether everything will be ready when the visitors arrive.

The PWD's list covers 229 government offices and 157 residences. The residences are meant for ministers, legislators, officials and other government employees. The jobs include repairs, renovation, painting, electrical fittings, water supply, sanitation and cleaning. The department has fixed November 27 as the date by which all of it must be finished.

The margin is thin. Ministers, MLAs, officials and employees will begin reaching Nagpur from November 25, two days before the PWD's own deadline and a full 12 days before the session starts. Offices must be fit for departments to function, and homes must have electricity, water and sanitation in working order from the day occupants walk in.

The trouble lies in the tendering. For many of the pending works, contractors have not been finalised, and work orders for some others are stuck. Officials point to a weak response to the tenders as a major hurdle. Bids are not coming in at the pace needed, and the pending work could slow further as the deadline gets closer.

The pressure on the department is considerable. Even small jobs such as painting, minor repairs, electrical work, water connections and sanitation can upset arrangements if they are left incomplete. Any delay would hit the legislators and officials who are to spend about a month in the city on session-related work.

The PWD, for its part, says there is no cause for alarm. It claims that the important works have already begun and that the rest will be completed within the stipulated time. The department has voiced confidence that all necessary preparations will be in place before the session opens.

Even so, the distance between the completion target and the number of works still caught in the tender process remains a worry. Ministers, legislators, senior officials and thousands of government employees travel to Nagpur for the session, and in effect the whole administrative machinery shifts to the city for the duration.

Nagpur hosts the session every year in keeping with the spirit of the Nagpur Agreement, and because the city is Maharashtra's second capital. The annual event is seen as important both politically and administratively, and it puts the city's infrastructure under scrutiny each time. The question is whether Nagpur can accommodate the state's entire legislative and administrative apparatus without a hitch.

Arrangements at the Vidhan Bhavan will matter, but so will the readiness of government offices, official residences and the city's civic facilities. All of them have to work smoothly if the session is to run without disruption.

With the first arrivals due on November 25 and the PWD deadline falling on November 27, the department has little room left for slippage. The coming days will show whether it can clear the tender hurdles, bring contractors on board and finish all 386 works in time, and whether preparations that exist on paper turn into working facilities before the government's machinery reaches Nagpur.