Taking a historic decision to eradicate corruption, Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal today announced revision of Haryana Schedule Rates (HSR) which remained unchanged since 1987.

 As per the announcement, new HSR will come into force from March 1, 2021. Besides this, once the new HSR becomes effective, all the items will be included in the HSR, putting an end to inclusion of non-scheduled items. The revised HSR will act as base for inviting new tenders and evaluating work performance. The HSR will be revised after every five years, announced the Chief Minister. 

he Chief Minister made this announcement while pressing over first of its kind meeting with Administrative Secretaries and Civil Engineer Contractors held here today. 

On this occasion, Mr. Manohar Lal also announced that from now onwards, State-level IT solution will be introduced for works pertaining to civil engineering. This IT system will be implemented from April 1, 2021. Under this system, contractors will have to get themselves registered.  Apart from this, the registered contractors will not have to give bid security. However, at the time of registration they will now have to fill a bid security declaration form, announced Mr. Manohar Lal.

Divulging details about reforms being brought in passing of bills, Chief Minister announced that after the submission of ‘e-MB’ along with due verification,  bill passing period has now been fixed to 21 days. He said that if there is any delay on the department’s part, then the concerned contractor will be paid an interest amount at the rate of 10 percent per annum for the delayed period. The officer concerned will be held responsible for the delay. The passing of bills objections will not be resolved in one time, announced the Chief Minister. However, if any delay is found on the part of the concerned officers dealing with bills, then strict action will be taken against such officers, said Mr. Manohar Lal.

The Chief Minister, while bringing in more transparency in the tendering works, announced that from now onwards, e-tendering of all the civil works will be done, thereby putting an end to manual tendering process. Along with this, IT-based technical evaluation and allotment of work will too be done online by the concerned departments. Besides this, manual filling up of Measurement Books (MB) by the contractors will be replaced to the ‘e-medium’.

Divulging details about reforms being brought in passing of bills, Chief Minister announced that after the submission of ‘e-MB’ along with due verification,  bill passing period has now been fixed to 21 days. He said that if there is any delay on the department’s part, then the concerned contractor will be paid an interest amount at the rate of 10 percent per annum for the delayed period. The officer concerned will be held responsible for the delay. The passing of bills objections will not be resolved in one time, announced the Chief Minister. However, if any delay is found on the part of the concerned officers dealing with bills, then strict action will be taken against such officers, said Mr. Manohar Lal.

He said that now the payment of bills will be made within a period of 30 days, from the date the bill is passed. If any department causes delay in payment of any contractor, then the concerned contractor will be paid an interest amount at the rate of 10 percent per annum for the delayed period. However, if the payment is made within the fixed period of 30 days, then the State Government will deduct interest amount at the rate of 10 percent per annum from the bill payment.

The technical evaluation will be done for the civil works above rupees one crore and the technical report of these works will be uploaded on the State-level IT system. The objections regarding this report will be invited within a period of seven days and the same should be resolved within a period of 15 days. Furthermore an Integrity pact will be included in all the tenders amounting above rupees one crore, announced the Chief Minister. 

He further announced that an Online complaint portal will be launched which will be managed by Vigilance Department. Any contractor can register their complaints regarding corruption on this portal. The complaints will be marked to independent third party agencies appointed under Integrity pact. 

While adhering to the directives Ministry of Finance, Performance Security Deposits for tenders has been reduced from 5 percent to 3 percent. However, this reduction will be included in the tenders which will be floated till December 31, 2021, excluding the existing agreements or works in which a court case or arbitration proceeding have begun, announced the Chief Minister.

While, concluding the meeting the Chief Minister assured the Civil Engineer Contractors that issued flagged by them in the meeting will be resolved on a priority basis. He said that directions will also be given to the departments concerned to ensure that reforms which have n been announced today are meticulously brought in. 

Lauding Chief Minister for taking first of its kind initiative of holding today's interaction the Civil Engineer Contractors urged the Chief Minister to constitute committee including officers and the contractors to resolve the grievances raised by the contractors. While swiftly responding to the request, Mr. Manohar Lal directed the officers present to constitute committees as per the departments to regularly interact with the work contractors for the completion of various government projects in a time-bound manner. 

Those who were present in the meeting include, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. D. S. Dhesi, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works (B&R) and Architecture Department, Mr. Alok Nigam, Additional Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Health Engineering Department, Mr. Devender Singh, Urban Local Bodies Department, Mr. S. N. Roy, Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning and Industries and Commerce Department, Mr. A. K. Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. V. Umashankar, Principal Secretary, Administration Reforms, Mr. Vijayendra Kumar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. Amit Kumar Agrawal, Deputy Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mrs. Ashima Brar and other senior officers were also present in the meeting.