Nagpur: The government babus find one trick or another to indulge in corruption practices. For instance, the State Food and Civil Supplies Department has framed the terms and conditions so that only a few people can participate in the tender process and the old contractors have been awarded the transportation contracts as per the stipulated time. The irregularities are being covered up under the guise of rules and regulations, sources said.
Transportation contracts are given by the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Consumer Protection to transport food grains to the government fair price shops. Wheat, rice, pulses and sugar are transported from other districts to urban areas and district or tehsil areas through regular base depots. Cheap grains are delivered to the shops. For this, a tender is floated for the work.
According to sources, the department did not issue a tender to assess the contractor after 2015. Those who got the transport contract in 2015 were given additional time till 2020. After this, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government issued the tender on May 19, 2021 as per the terms and conditions of the decision dated 15 January 2021. In this it was made mandatory that a person having experience of the last three years can participate in this tender process. That is, only those who got the contract in 2015 can participate in this tender process. Now it is being alleged that the department has made this condition mandatory only for re-contracting the old contractors, sources added.
It may be mentioned that the department had invited tenders in 2015 for the supply of food grains. The tenders were for three years. It was necessary to issue a tender again in 2018. However, the old contract was extended. Then the tender was called in 2020. But it was cancelled again. Later in January 2021, the terms and conditions were changed by the decision of the government and the tender was called in May 2021. Due to these conditions, only the old contractors of 2015 got the job again in 2021. This is because the new contractor did not have three years of experience under the conditions.
According to Mahesh Dayawan, President of MODI Foundation, the service of the contract recipients in 2015 continued till 2020. After that, only those who have three years of work experience in the tender issued in 2021 can participate in the tender process. This means that the contract for transportation in 2015, was again awarded in the year 2021. For ‘convenience’ of this irregularity, the terms and conditions were changed.