Coimbatore, Aug 2 (KNN) In a major relief for pump-set makers in the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) segment, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has put a stay on the tender by 'Energy Efficiency Services' (EESL) of the Union Power Ministry for buying 1.5 lakh submersible pump sets in the state.

President of Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association (SIEMA), which filed a writ petition in the HC to direct EESL to stop the proceedings of tender formalities, KK Rajan said that EESL recently floated a tender for procuring 1.5 lakh submersible pump sets for AP and further plans to supply 2 million pump sets free of cost to farmers throughout the country in the next three years.

"It has many clauses that prevent the participation of MSMEs,” he highlighted.

The HC has given a stay order for a period of three weeks and also directed EESL not to finalise the tender, the president said “It is a well-known fact that MSME’s contribute to more than 50% of the total volume of pump sets produced in the country. EESL intends to procure the pump sets from three to seven big manufacturers only and not from MSME’s. This will be a huge blow to the MSME pump manufacturers who fulfil all quality requirements of the tender.”

He further explained that through this tender EESL will become a monopoly pumpset supplier in India and procurement will be only from Large Manufacturers and not MSME’s. Failing to incorporate MSME’s in the tender will lead to grave difficulties and many MSME units falling sick, bankrupt, leading to closure.

“We have also approached  Kalraj Mishra, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India during his visit to Coimbatore on 15th July 2016”, he informed.

He hoped that M/s. EESL will consider the views of SIEMA and relax the stringent clauses so as to allow the MSMEs to participate. (KNN Bureau)