CM asks chief secy to probe 500cr food scam

Mumbai: In a late-night development on Monday, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan asked chief secretary Jayant Kumar Banthia to probe the Rs 500-crore food scam and submit his preliminary report within two weeks.

This comes a week after the principal adviser to the apex court’s special commissioners, Biraj Patnaik, submitted his report on the scam. In his report, Patnaik submitted that there were rampant irregularities and violations of the apex court’s guidelines on the allotment of work for supply of food items to poor children and pregnant women.

Earlier in the day, Chavan refused to comment on Patnaik’s findings. “It’s a leaked report. We don’t have an authentic copy of the report submitted by Patnaik and would not like to comment. We have asked for an official copy. After receipt of the report, we will comment on it,’’ he said.

It seems that before making the “leaked report” statement, Chavan did not do adequate homework or seek information from New Delhi. A senior state government official said a copy of the report, signed by Patnaik, was submitted to the registrar of the apex court and the Maharashtra government counsel in the apex court on October 31.

Women and child development principal secretary Ujjwal Uke said on Monday he has written to the apex court’s registrar, asking for a certified copy of Patnaik’s report.

Uke said he had asked the integrated child development scheme commissioner to submit all the 350 files pertaining to the Rs 500-crore contract to him. “For expression of interest, 350 organizations had submitted applications. Of these, three were selected. We will have to examine all the files to verify if there was any violation of the SC guidelines. If irregularities are found, we will take action against the erring contractors,” Uke said.

While the CM remained non-committal on whether his government will cancel the three contracts, he said “stern action will be taken against “contractors who secured contracts by violating the guidelines of the apex court”.

Meanwhile, a senior office bearer of a society that had bagged the contract said there was nothing illegal in the allotments. “The SC has barred contractors from participating in the food supply scheme. We are not contractors, we are women’s cooperative societies registered under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act. As such, it will be wrong to cancel our contract,” he said. Further, he said, it was unfortunate that Patnaik did not meet any of the office-bearers of the mahila mandals. “We have read the entire report. Had Patnaik interacted with us, several issues raised by him could have been sorted out,” he said.

Courtesy:

Prafulla Marpakwar TNN

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