MUMBAI: The state government has found irregularities not only in the tender process for milling tur that was procured in 2017-18, but also in the bidding process to sell it after milling. As a result, huge quantities of the milled tur too are lying in the government godowns, raising fears about their shelf life.
Officials said
Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MSCMF) has invited bids from traders to pick the milled tur at least eight times, but not even a single contract has been allotted.
Officials blame this on a strange tender condition: a two-day deadline to get the government's approval for the bid. It means that once a bidder is selected and its file forwarded to the marketing department, the approval has to be given within two days, else it will lapse. "The federation must explain the logic for the two day validity," said
Bijay Kumar, additional chief secretary. He said that while the government is struggling to dispose of some of the Tur to make space in its godowns, the federation did not publicise the tender in any newspaper, relying only on e-tenders.
Last year, the federation procured 25.2 lakh quintals of tur worth Rs 1,300 crore as the state's production was four times compared to 2016-17. To ensure that the tur procured and later sold by the government does not return to the federation, the government decided to mill the whole tur. TOI had on Thursday reported that the federation's GM,
Anil Deshmukh, was suspended for gross irregularities in the tender process for milling tur. The state government has previously also tried to sell
tur dal at Rs 55 per kg in ration shops, for which 3.1 lakh quintals was milled. The government also offered to sell dal to retailers and shopping mall owners at Rs 55 per kg, but they quoted Rs 47-52 per kg, which may lead to losses for the government.
"There is a need to create demand and to identify potential buyers, which too the federation has failed to do," said a senior official. He also said that the government feels that the federation was trying to create a situation where the government will be forced to sell the Tur dal at throw away prices due to the mismanagement in the entire process.
Officials said Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation has invited bids from traders to pick the milled tur at least eight times, but not even a single contract has been allotted. This is because if the selected bidder's file isn't approved within two days it will lapse
The state government has found irregularities not only in the tender process for milling tur that was procured... Read More
