The State government has issued orders relaxing the tendering procedures so as to allow the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to make direct purchases from public sector units under the State Industries department.

The relaxation, which will allow the KSEB to make the purchases without tender/quotation process, will apply for a period of one year.

By guaranteeing an assured market for the products of four public sector enterprises, their functioning is expected to see a marked improvement, Industries Minister P. Rajeeve has said.

The list of equipment includes six products of the Kerala Electricals and Allied Engineering Company (KEL), five products of the TRACO Cable Company, two products of United Electrical Industries, nine products of the Steel Industrials Kerala Ltd (SILK).

The decision has been taken on the basis of a recoomendation of the Board for Public Sector Transformation (BPT – formerly the Public Sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB)). To enable this, the government has relaxed the conditions set down in Para 9.23 of the Store Purchase Manual which deals with the tendering process for the purchase of products of State government departmental units and State public sector industries and institutions that have been in production for more than five years.

The products of KEL, TRACO and United Electricals will be sold to the KSEB at prices not exceeding those set down in the government order. It will be ensured that the nine products of SILK are purchased at prices not exceeding the market price, the government said on saturday.

Earlier, the State government had waived the power bill arrears of public sector units which had mounted to ₹ 272.2 crore.