After firm denials of any
malpractices in purchases contracts worth Rs 206 crore in a single day Pankaja
Munde has now partly admitted her misdeeds. While doing so she also admitted that a company that provided
chikki and khichadi of substandard quality in past was again given a contract.
In her partial confession she cleverly has tried to put curtain on bigger
wrongs. Not a single procurement of 206 crores she has done in February 2015 is
free from scam.
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| Photo courtesy NDTV.com |
It seems that this business of
siphoning public money was going on in WCD since last many years. They wait for
money to be allotted under integrated child Development Scheme ( ICDS ) and
then distribute money amongst themselves. To do that they ignored, broke all
procurement rules and guidelines. They arbitrarily made rate contracts; did rate fixation gave extension to it. And as all the ministers and senior
officials were equally party to it no complaint helped break this racket.
As far as purchases of chikki and
ayurvedic biscuits are concerned it also amounts to contempt of Supreme Court
orders in 2004 and 2006. Supreme court had banned private contractors for
supply of nutrition and directed use of village communities, self help groups
and mahila mandals. On 7th of October, 2004 Supreme court ordered that the contractors shall not be used for supply
of nutrition in Anganwadis and preferably Integrated child development scheme
(ICDS) funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help
groups and Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals.
On 13th of December, 2006 Chief Secretaries of all State
Governments/UTs were directed to submit affidavits giving details of the
steps taken with regard to the order of
supreme Court of October 7th, 2004 .
After that all the States and Union Territories were directed to provide
supplementary nutrition in the form of a morning snack and a hot cooked meal to
the children in the age group of 3 to 6 years.
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| Photo Courtesy Mid Day |
But government of Maharashtra
instead of hot cooked food provided chikki
and biscuits as a supplementary nutrition awarded work to “ Mahila
Sanstha’s” instead of mahila mandals or
self help groups gave it Mahila sanstha or mahila institutions
Principal adviser to the
commission that Supreme court of India had appointed to monitor the
implementation of the food and work related schemes in the country
(Anne - 1 )
had pointed out that Following the Supreme Court orders of 2004, the Government
of Maharashtra attempted a system of decentralized supply through women’s Self
Help Groups (SHGs) . To ensure that big contractors did not come in, they
passed a Government Resolution that no single SHG should supply more than five
anganwadis.
(Anne 2 )
While this system was beginning
to work, the Government of Maharashtra in 2009; once again introduced a new
system through which it allowed backdoor entry of big private contractors with
only commercial interests. Then GR in that regard was issued in 2011
( Anne -3)
Meanwhile They cleverly used
word ‘Mahila sansthas’/ ‘woman’s
institutions’in tender process . Mahila sansthas’/ ‘woman’s institutions’
includes not just SHGs/Mahila Mandals but any entity that has women in it, irrespective
of size and turnover. By including Mahila Sansthas the government of Maharashtra opened the door
for private companies and contractors. And the contract was awarded to three
mahila sansthas
The said report also observed
following irregularities , in contract given to these santhas
• The contracts for supply of THR
( Take home ration) under supplementary nutrition project ( SNP) has been given to Mahila Mandals which are
further sub-contracting the responsibility of production of THR to private
units. This is in violation of the spirit of the Supreme Court order that
production and distribution should be decentralized and private contractors
kept out
• The private units that have
been leased by the Mahila Mandals for production of THR are owned by family members of
the members of the Mahila Mandal who have the controlling authority over all
organizational and financial matters in relation to the said lease agreement.
• In spite of many complaints
regarding the quality of THR, there has not been any serious investigation or
suspension of contracts. Lab reports on quality submitted by the Mahila Mandals are suspicious
as all three mahila mandals approach the same lab and when the quality is tested in
a government lab through picking a random sample, the THR failed to meet the
nutritional norms. Further, even an independent checking by investigation bureau of the
newspaper, Daily News and Analysis, Mumbai through a private lab showed that the THR
being supplied does not meet nutritional norms.
• Two of the units (Paras Foods
and Indo Allied Protein Foods) that have been leased by the Mahila Mandals for supply
of THR are already under scrutiny following an FIR and Charge sheet by the CBI
on charges of corruption in supply of food for the Tribal Department.
• Many of the transactions by the
Mahila Mandals through the sub-committees have been done without informing and
taking consent of the Co-operative Societies Department, as required by law.
• Although the ( Expression of
interest ) EOI was invited for each district separately, the entire
responsibility has been given to only three mahila mandals who are producing
the THR in a total of less than ten units for the entire State, out of which
one unit is based out of the State in Rajasthan.
Contract awarded to three mahila
sansthas were front originations of
private contractors.
(Anne -4) The report also throws light on names of private
contractors. Interestingly according to media reports most of these contractors
were near and Dear ones of Munde family.
(Anne -5 ).That may the reason suryakanta is now
blaming gujrati marwadi
( Anne – 6)
Before going to actual procure
procere we must see what is Rate Contract and Rate Fixation
A Rate Contract is an agreement between the purchaser and the
supplier for supply of specified goods at Specified price and terms &
conditions during the period covered by
The Rate Contract (Normally it is always One year) . No quantity is Mentioned
nor is any minimum drawal Guaranteed in the Rate Contract. The Rate Contract is
in the nature of a standing offer From the supplier firm. But there is always
limit on maximum purchase on Rate Contract
All government purchases in
Maharashtra above Rs 3 lakh are mandated to be made after inviting tenders.
This provision is there since 1993 . earlier purchase worth Rs 500/- at a time
and Rs 20000/- of as ingle item in a
year was allowed on rate contract . But above that, tender process was
mandatory. Gradually this limit and provision was increased to 3 lakh till
December 2014.
(Anne – 7)
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. Nagpur bench of Bombay high
court declared rate fixation illegal (2545/2012).Accordingly on 27 June 2013 in a meeting held chairmanship of chief
secretary it was decided that as HC order henceforth Rate fixation will not be
done. Attachment
.(Anne - 8).
Earlier there were two major
categories of children 6 months to 2 Years and 2 – 6 years. As per guidelines
for children between 6 months to 2 years supplementary nutrition was to be
provided in form of paste. It was also condition that food provided to children
below 3 years should be light to eat and
digest. Recipe for such food had been also given n this GR
( Anne - 9). There
was no chikki, biscuits, eternal feed powder or protein powder in this chart.
Items like chikki , biscuits were
never in this scheme but were procured for children in 6 month to 3 years range
without adopting any procedure or considering it effect on children’s health.
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