In February 2013 Pankaja Munde
awarded 76 crore chikki contract to Suryakanta Mahilaa Audyogik SahkariSanstha SMASS . Earlier in 2013 also SMASS had bagged 38
crore chikki contract in Congress - NCP run government, obviously without
tender , competitive bids and despite of clear objections from commissioner , Adivasi welfare . Afterwards
order was stayed and High level inquiry was in this case. On account of objections raised
by then BJP member’s .Interestingly Not ruling party nor opposition followed
the case.
Then BJP came in to the power and Pankaja Munde awarded exactly double amount i.e 76 crore chikki contract similar way and same contractor, Despite Supreme court order and High Court directives, Clear opinion of then commissioner (industries) and decision of a committee headed by Chief secretary on 27 June 2013 ( Anne -8) to not to purchase Items on Rate Fixation and
off course without tender or competitive bids .Wasn’t that interesting ?
Actually as per supreme court and
Central government directives the food to be provided should be fresh, hot and local. Accordingly government of
Maharashtra on 6 July 2009 appointed a committee to decide rates, quantity of
recipe of food that was to be provided anganwadis as Take Home Ration (THR) and
to eat at anganwadi itself (
Anne - 10) . Accordingly a GR was issued on 24 august 2009 directing quantity and recipe of food that
was to be provided to anganawadi children.
In This GR there was no mention
of any type of Chikki or ayurvedic biscuits.
(Anne -11).Ground nut laddu was
there in that list. Then how come chikki was introduced in anganwadi children
supplimentary nutrition food?. Story is interesting on 2nd
June 2011 then government decided that
instead of sweet ground nut laddus chikki will be provided to children and
pregnant ladies anganwadi in rural and urban areas.
( Anne - 12) .Which dietitian
or doctor recommended it? Was impact of eating chikki on malnourished children
studied ?.There is no answer to that. However interesting part of the story is
there no chikki item in SMASS’s product list and it has never introduced chikki
in open market. What does that mean ?
However the rate given as per
tender for ground nut laddu was Rs. 1.27
for 10 gram i.e. Rs 12.70 for 100 grams
and it was kept the same for chikki in June 2011.
In February 2012 government
suddenly reserved several items like mango pulp, pickles, amala-
kokam sharbat including Chikki to be purchased from Suryakanta Mahilaa Audyogik Sahkari
Sanstha SMASS only.
(Anne - 13).Don’t ask why this
privilege was given to SMASS . Now how and why some items were reserved to be
purchased from SMASS is matter of
investigation. What were its credentials?. . But when organization
belongs to
political person then nothing is impossible.
In august 2012 rates for
chikki’s to be purchased were fixed and they almost almost double the rate in
2011.
( Anne - 14). Rates decided for
SMASS were applicable to 30 June 2013
only.
On 29 April 2013 work orders of supply of chikki was issued to
SMASS, obviously without tender , competitive bids and despite of clear
objections from commissioner , Adivasi
welfare .
(Anne -15, Page 1) . Even then
Purchase orders were issued. Afterwards orders were stayed on 14 June 2013. On
objections raised by then MLC on 16th July 2013 and Minister had assured High
level inquiry in this case. ( Anne – 15, page 7) .
On 3 june 2013 Radika rastogi
then Development commissioner (Industries) had clearly opined “The CSPO has not
done any Rate contract for chikki. There is only Rate fixation. In case of rate
fixation it is not done competitively as in an RC ( I.e by way of open
tenders).it only means that rate are reasonable, it does not mean that rates
are competitive. Rate fixation is only meant for small orders & reservation
is given for the certain items produced by women’s groups, societies,
organizations of ex servicemen, blind/handicapped persons etc. In the present
case, where purchase is to the tune of 37 crores, it is advised that purchase
based on rate fixation would not be appropriate. Open tender procedure need to
be followed wherein the specification and & standard are clearly spelt out.
“( Anne – 15, page 6)
Accordingly One man High level
committee of P.S Meena was appointed to
inquire in to the matter on 20 November 2013 . But as the matter was High
profile committee didn’t find time to enquire into it.
(Anne -16 ) Hence again extension was given to committee
till May 2014.
( Anne - 17 ) But what
happened to committee report no one knows.
Interestingly inquiry committee
on chikki was appointed on complaints of BJP members, none of them followed it. Even after they
came in to the power in October 2014 they didn’t do anything. Moreover one of
their colleagues Pankaja Munde awarded contract to SMASS. What does that mean?
.Allegations were baseless or contractor was powerful enough to silence
everybody?
Despite Supreme court and High
Court directives, Clear opinion of then
commissioner industries and decision of
a committee headed by Chief secretary on
27 June 2013 ( Anne -8) to not to
purchase Items on Rate Fixation .The extension was given to rates fixed for SMASS on 1 September 2014
(Anne -18)
On 12 February 2015 pankaja munde had a meeting
with principal secretary (WCD) and as per her orders and Principal secretaries
guidelines, all previous proposals were rejected and fresh proposal were
submitted . And accordingly three work orders were issued First one was for 6
month to 3 year old and amount was 23 , 85, 65,763/-
(Anne - 19)
Interestingly in this order word
( amaranth) rajgira laddu/ chikki were
there but afterwards only word chikki was mentioned in work order awarded. And
accordingly only chikki was provided . There is difference between preparation
of laddu and chikki . There was no mention of any rajgira Item in recipe GRs
Through second GR she ordered purchase of micronutrient chikki/
laddu but actually chikki was provided .
Interestingly rates of groundnut chikki
and and micronutrient chikki were different. Ground chikki / laddu rate 210 /
kg while micronutrient chikki was
285/kg.This procurement was of 79, 81.42,671/- for for children of 3 to 6 year
and pregnant and lactating women.
(Anne -20 )
Through third GR she proposed to
purchase of coconut chikki of 10,41, 55,260 for children of 3 to 6 years (
Anne - 21)
This all purchase was for for
year 2014- fifteen i.e. for only thirty days following chikki items were
Rajagira chikki 6 months to 3
years children
quantity 1109608 kg rate Rs 215/ kg = 238565720
Micronutrient 3 to 6 yrs
1909513 kg Rate 285/kg =
544211205
‘’ women 890987 rate 285 /kg = 253931437
Coconut chikki 3 to 6 yrs
520776 Rate 200/kg = 104155260
Total chikki kg 4430884 (forty
four lakh thirty thousand eight hundred eighty four kg)
Rupees 1140863622 ( one hundred fourteen crore eight lakh sixty
three thousand six hundred twenty two Rupees) amount actually sanctioned
earlier was next day revised to 75 five
crores (
Anne – 23 A) and also items
micronutrient chikki for women and coconut chikki for 3 to 6 years
children were cancelled. Don’t ask Why nutrition was denied to pregnant and
lactating women and children of of 3 to 6 years group. Reason was obvious some
more contractors who were sniffing in Mantralay corridors had also got clue of
funds allocated to WCD. They also needed to be nourished. And only contractors
do have approach in Mantralay and not the
malnourished children and women.
Does the SMASS has capacity to
prepare 30 lakh kg chikki ? . can a six month old infant eat chikki ? Why
Pankaja Munde awarded contract to tainted
contractor violating all the norm and directives and that too to a
contractor against her own collogues had raised fingers. These are are the
question she has to answer now.
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