14 yrs on, state bans 4 firms permanently for defective supplies

Nagpur: The slow pace at which the government juggernaut moves was demonstrated yet again in a government resolution on Thursday. It blacklisted four companies permanently for supplying defective and sub-standard items 14 years ago.. The firms were part of the Vidarbha relief package announced way back in 2005.
Responding to the alarming rise in farmers’ suicide in Vidarbha, the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had provided special relief for the region. The announcement was made during winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur. A government resolution dated December 19, 2005, specified the details of the Vidarbha package, comprising 18 measures.
Under item no. 9, in order to support 60,000 financially distressed farmers, the government offered Rs25,000 worth of assistance to each to improve the condition of farmers so that they could practise their occupation in a better way. The items included improving soil health, digging borewells, supplying pipelines, modern implements, repairs of old wells, installing agriculture pumps, infrastructure for making compost and organic fertilizers. The size of this component was Rs150 crore, and it was to be implemented by state agriculture department, for which a separate notification was published on February 13, 2006. The items were to supplied over a period of three years.
Subsequently, when the package was being rolled out, complaints of sub-standard quality of items poured in. The government was forced to appoint an enquiry committee to look into the matter. The probe was headed by Dr Gopal Reddy, the then managing director of State Horticulture and Medicinal Plants Board. The three-member enquiry panel was set up on December 13, 2007.
The Reddy committee submitted its report on September 1, 2008. The committee confirmed supply of defective and below par items, and instructed the suppliers to replace them within a fixed time frame. When they failed to do that, the state issued orders imposing a ban of two years on the said companies, barring the agriculture department from engaging them for two years from July 31, 2010.
However, the matter was taken up by the Assurances Committee of the state legislature, which gave the view that the said four erring companies be blacklisted permanently, so that they do not deal ever with the government. Finally, the GR was published on May 16, 2019, declaring that the four firms — M/s Dharaskar Engineering, Murtizapur; M/s Jagdamba Agro, Jalna; M/s Vijay Williams, Guindy, Chennai, and M/s Southern Agro, Goregaon (East), Mumbai — be blacklisted permanently.