More allegations of corruption are being made against the Maharashtra Women and Child Development Department (WCD) headed by BJP leader Pankaja Munde, with RTI activists pointing to irregularities in the manufacture and distribution of Ayurvedic biscuits intended a vital source for the nourishment of tribal and underprivileged children living in the State’s backward districts.
While the ‘chikki’ scam, whose irregularities have been pegged at a whopping Rs. 206 crore, has cast strong aspersions on the workings of Ms. Munde’s department, Right to Information (RTI) activist Vijay Kumbhar says that the scandal, which encompasses irregularities in the manufacture of biscuits, had its roots during the tenure of the Congress-NCP government.
As per Supreme Court directives, the food to be given to children in Anganwadis should be fresh, local and served hot. Accordingly, the then Congress-NCP government, in July 2009 appointed a committee to decide the rates, quantity and type of food and a government resolution was issued in August that year where there was no mention of introducing either chikki or Ayurvedic biscuits as nutrition products.
“In 2011, the Congress-NCP government introduced chikki and subsequently Ayurvedic biscuits to be provided to children and pregnant ladies across anganwadis in rural and urban areas. Which dietician or doctor recommended it? Was the impact of eating chikki on malnourished children ever studied?” asked Mr. Kumbhar.
No tenders were invited Documents obtained by him reveal that no tenders were invited for the process by Ms. Munde’s WCD this year and that the contract was awarded to a Pune-based ‘Gowardhan Ayur Farma’ that was formed in 2011. The company is run by three women.
Ms. Munde’s Department, in February this year, ordered purchases of Ayurvedic biscuits worth Rs. 95, 51,124 but the very next day (February 13) drastically increased the amount to Rs. 5 crore without a corresponding increase in the number of beneficiaries.
“Documents of the tendering process are not available. When the order was passed, the rate contract with ‘Gowardhan Ayur’ was not in force as it had already expired by July 2014. Further none of the company’s products have the requisite Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licences,” Mr. Kumbhar said adding that it needed stern probing to know why the rate contract was extended to the company on the same day it was awarded one.
Incidentally, ‘Gowardhan Farma’ never introduced its brand of Ayurvedic biscuits in the open market and stamped an FSSAI licence number on the biscuit packets only after it was awarded a contract (i.e. after February 13).
More disturbing, as Mr. Kumbhar pointed out, is the fact that the NGO’s three manufacturing units mentioned on the biscuit packets are either non-existent or belong to some other company.
For instance, ‘Gowardhan Farma’ has no manufacturing unit on a ‘Plot no. 1304’ sited in Maval Taluk, 50 km from Pune, alleged Mr. Kumbhar.
The other unit claimed by Gowardhan Farma in Solapur to be their manufacturing unit is called ‘Srujan Foods’ belongs to others. Their so-called unit in Pune in fact belongs to Venky’s, the noted company specialising in chicken meat processing.
“It is remarkably strange how this NGO [Gowardhan Farma] can claim manufacturing units owned by other NGOs or companies as its own. This means that this NGO obviously outsources work to other companies in clear violation of Supreme Court directives. This relay of corruption is merely passed on from one government to the other,” said Mr. Kumbhar.
