Tripura police detain miscreants disrupting Rs 41 cr NH project bidding

Agartala: The Tripura Police on Wednesday detained several miscreants who had reportedly gathered in front of the National Highway (NH) Division office located at Kumarghat in Tripura's Unakoti district to disrupt the ongoing pre-bid meeting for a Rs 41 crore project.

The tender was floated by National Highways Corporation Limited, police said.

As per custom, a pre-bid meeting was conducted with contractors who wished to participate in the bidding process before the contract was actually awarded.

The interested contractors arrived at the office to officially sign the Expression of Interest (EOI) and discuss technicalities.

To their surprise, a group of miscreants gathered in front of the office to prevent the contractors.

According to eyewitnesses, a brief scuffle erupted between the contractors and the miscreants gathered on the spot.

Some of the contractors who had entered the office beforehand were allegedly driven out using coercive measures.

However, the police rushed to the spot promptly, and enough security personnel were deployed at the site to prevent further escalation of tension.

Several miscreants who were involved in the pre-planned attack on the contractors were detained.

Speaking to media persons, SDPO Kumarghat said, “We had prior information that some miscreants would create disturbance in the pre-bid meeting, which was conducted here. The troublemakers were detained so that the meeting could be conducted without any hassle. We hope no one will dare to repeat such mischief here.”

“I came to attend a pre-bid meeting here at the Executive Engineer PWD office. Some locals gathered and stopped us from submitting the tender. My tender documents were torn apart by the miscreants. Later, enough security was deployed, and under strict police surveillance, the administrative meeting was conducted. As many as seven to eight contractors signed the document,” said a contractor.