wget wernt vd aeives flere Pera faies ee REE ste TF HATER, Me eT ert re, Min ABE, alae a, Ree—110004 National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited LOG WRASTRUCTURE -BULONG THE WATON Misty of Road Transport & Highways, Gort onda BHARATMALA S31 Foo; PTI Buiing, Parent Sect, New Delhi 1000, +8111 23451600, wwnhidcLcom "soe omeeen COIN: U454000L2014G01269062 Brea exon or ver) (A Government of in NHIDCL/HQ/DPR/NH-07/CASTA/ \\\5, 22.09.2021 OFFICE ORDER Sub: Placing M/s CASTA ENGINEERS PVT. LTD. in the Negative List of NHIDCL. Mintistry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) and the Consultant, M/s CASTA ENGINEERS PVT. LTD., had entered into Contract Agreement on 13.01.2014 for the work of “Consultancy services for Preparation of Detailed Project Report for Rehabilitation and improvement to 2-laning with paved shoulder configuration of Km 368.00 (Rudraprayag) to Km 468.00 (Joshimath) on NH-58 in the State of Uttarakhand”, and the date of commencement of the subject work was declared as 28.01.2014. 2. A Tripartite Agreement was signed between MORTH, NHIDCL and the DPR consultant on 31.08.2017, wherein the subject work was being transferred to NHIDCL. 3. The subject stretch of 100 Km length from Rudraprayag (Km 368.00) to Joshimath (Km 468.00) was divided into 03 packages, which are as under: (i) Pkg-I from Km 368.00 to Km 399.00 (ii) Pkg-II from Km 399.00 to Km 430.00 (iii) Pkg-III from Km 430.00 to Km 468.00 4. Final Detailed Project Report was submitted by the Consultant on 10.01.2018 and the Final DPR of 02 landslide treatment works, namely Gholteer (from Km 378.900 to Km 380.075) and Patalganga (from Km wT456.200 to Km 456.800) was submitted on 02.04.2018 and 13.04.2018 respectively. 5. Based on the DPR, the AA&FS of the subject packages was conveyed by the Ministry to NHIDCL and the work was awarded on EPC mode accordingly, which are currently under progress. 6. NHIDCL-RO, DDN vide letter no, NHIDCL/RO-DDN/NH- 07/CASTA/A-13/20-21/1131 dated 11.05.2021 issued Show Cause notice to the DPR Consultant with the intention to place the Contractor in the Negative List of NHIDCL. The notice elaborated in detail the failures fon the part of the DPR Consultant during the preparation of DPR and asked him to explain within 30 days why the Consultant should not be placed in the Negative List of NHIDCL and bear the subsequent consequences thereof. 7. The Consultant vide their letter No. Casta/14001/NHIDCL/NH- 58/UK-DPR/2021/0073 dated 25.06.2021 has submitted their point-wise reply towards the Show-Cause Notice, which are discussed below: (i) DPR Consultant has stated that all investigations, assessment and finaization of DPR has been carried out as per TOR and w.r.t guidelines of Authority and relevant IRC codes. Joint inspections were carried out along with Project Coordinaton Consultant and BRO officials and all observations were complied for finalizing the alignment of the road. (ii) All observations/public grievances raised by the local people had been complied and the state administration concern and local requirement of people was recognized and incorporated under Environmental Screening Report, EIA/EMP report. (iii) The Consultant was aware of the entry/exit of PWD/PMGSY road commencing from the highway, which were marked in the drawings of DPR. The estimates for shifting of affected utilities were also submitted after receiving them from concerned stakeholder. I(iv) All sliding zones identified by MORTH and active landslide zones were considered during the preparation of the DPR. Moreover, the project road passes through fragile geology that causes to generate new slides from time to time. (v) The forest proposals have been prepared in requisite format as per the direction of the Authority and muck dumping sites were also identified and approved by the Authority. All observations raised after uploading the proposal on E-PARIVESH portal were complied by the Consultant. (vi) After finalization of the alignment, it was cross-verified by RVNL on the ground, which was modified in consultation with NHIDCL. (vii) Proper justification regarding delay in execution of work was submitted 8. The reply dated 25.06.2021 received from M/s CASTA ENGINEERS PVT. LTD. has been examined and their contention is rejected on the following grounds: (i) The DPR Consultant has only submitted the reports but never verified/cross-checked whether, the DPR is feasible as per the ground situations. If only the alignment of the proposed road had been checked by the DPR Consultant, the Authority and the newly deployed EPC contractors would not have faced problems related to alignment, local people and land acquisition during execution of construction work. (ii) No liasoning was carried out with local State Authorities like UPCL, Jal Sansthan, Irrigation Dept. & URRDA and no NOC was obtained from State Govt., which is mandatory to be submitted along with DPR. (iii) A number of utility shifting estimates like irrigation department for shifting of canals, water channels, Nagar Pallika Dept for shifting of electric poles in town area i.e. Gauchar, Karnprayag, Langasu, Pipalkoti etc was not submitted by the DPR Consultant, which were later on obtained by the Authority during project execution resulting in additional expenses on the part of the Authority, i.(iv) The consultant has stated that, “the Project road passes through fragile geology that causes to generate new slides from time to time” is unjustified and seems as an excuse to escape from their duties. After award of the project, a number of sliding zones and sinking zones have been identified during the execution of the project which has led to criticism from the State Govt. Thus, no apprehensible study was conducted for identifying prone areas and taking precautionary measures to prevent future slides. (v) The alignment proposed should have been passed through Greenfield/agricultural/barren land, so that maximum portion of the land be acquired from non-habitat areas, however, the same was not incorporated by the DPR Consultant while preparing the DPR. (vi) Only forest clearance proposal has been approved and the rest 03 number of proposals are still not approved. Moreover, plan for muck disposal was not incorporated by the DPR Consultant due to which the Authority had to face numerous hardships and State Administration litigations at different levels. (vii) DPR Consultant failed to carry out liaison with RVNL regarding railway line between Rishikesh to Karanprayag. The DPR Consultant failed to intimate/report to the Authority regarding Railway cross through NH- 58, resulting that Authority was left with no option than giving unwanted Change of Scope (COS) to EPC Contractor and change design chainage of project highway = at_—S— Sumerpur = (i.e..——«Km.372.350). 9. The DPR Consultant has attempted to shift the blame on the part ‘of the NHIDCL without appreciating the facts that the EOTs and adhoc payments were made to him, keeping in view the interest of the project. 10. The poor performance and inaccurate assessment of the DPR Consultant has resulted in numerous hardships on the part of the Authority for liasoning with the State Administration at different levels and it has also caused delay in execution of the project along with surplus as]expenditure, which could have been avoided by the DPR Consultant while preparing the DPR. 11. Considering the fact that the project stretch in question is of national importance and also a part of the Chardham Pariyojana, which has been consistently monitored by State and Local administration, the lapses on the part of the DPR Consultant has resulted in losing reputation and credibility in the eyes of the stake holders and losing the goodwill of the people of Uttarakhand. 12. It is clear that the DPR Consultant has not complied with the conditions of the Contract Agreement and is responsible for causing breach to the Clauses 1.A.(ii), (iii),(vili) and (ix) of the Office order (228/2020) dated 15.12.2020. 13. In light of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, NHIDCL is hereby placing M/s Casta Engineers Pvt. Ltd., including all its JV partners and its related parties in the Negative List in terms of its Office Order No. (228/2020) dated 15.12.2020, for a period of 2 years from the date of issue of this order. 14. This issues with the approval of the Competent Authority. 04] (K!P. Singh) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (T) M/s CASTA ENGINEERS PVT. LTD., A-26, B-1 Extn., Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate, New Delhi - 110044 Copy to: 1 Director (Tech.), NHIDCL Har. 2. ED (T/Ps), NHIDCL 3 Sr. Manager (IT), NHIDCL Har. to put the notice on the website and also give wide publicity. 5/5 |